Leadership
by Meinos Kaen
Summary: Nine demons, nine Jinchuuriki, nine different destinies. Never meant to meet each other, never meant to interact and to change each other's destiny... The question is: what if they did? What if the nine Jinchuuriki met? AU. Chapter 5 up! Review, thanks.
1. Childhood I

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… Otherwise I would have made this happen.

Well, I began thinking about this idea of mine a few months ago, and among my many projects I slowly began to work about it. This is basically a story where the main characters will be Naruto and the other Jinchuuriki. That means a lot of work to flesh out characters that are basically OCs to us. I hope I did a good work. This is the prologue and the first chapter together. I hope you enjoy it, since I've put a lot of effort into it. Enjoy!

_Prologue_

It was an unusual thing for the village of sand to ask something of their allies. The official shinobi village of the land of wind, even after the historical pacts following the last great shinobi war, had never thought of the other villages as real 'allies'. Not even the neighbouring ones. Not even Konoha, who has always been the most peaceful among the various villages. But, indeed, the meeting had been the Kazekage's request.

The meeting had been decided to be held in Konoha. Among the five villages it was the one who had never shown any signs of a lust for power or expansion, even if it was commonly reputed as the strongest one among the big five. The Kazekage had been the first to arrive, after the Sandaime Hokage. That irked Sarutobi's curiosity. It seemed that whatever he wanted to discuss with them, it was important to him.

By minutes, the other kages and the ninja leaders arrived in the room. The Kazekage observed and waited patiently and silently, observing the people he had 'summoned' arrive one by one. The Mizukage, the Tsuchikage, the Raikage, and the leader of Takigakure. The man waited for a few more minutes of complete silence, since it seemed the leaders were studying the others and the 'terrain'.

"I thank you for your cooperation. I know that this meeting has been organized in a haste." Began the Kazekage, earning a snort of laughter from the leader of Kumogakure.

"Haste, right. It has all been made in less than a week." The ebony-skinned kage rubbed one of his small moustaches with his right index finger and thumb.

"I understand that such an hastiness for a meeting between leaders is… Unusual. But I believe you will agree with me on the importance of the matter I wish to discuss. It concerns all of you as well." The leader of the hidden sand turned to one of the two shinobi accompanying him. The shinobi in question opened his weapon pouch and got out a scroll from it, opening it on the ground right in front of his feet.

The Kazekage noticed that the other leaders got nervous at that, apart the Hokage. The Tsuchikage particularly looked ready to extract something from her right sleeve. After all, in the last great shinobi war Konoha had been Iwa's nightmare. Even if the reason of that fear had disappeared six years prior, old scars hardly died down.

But the scroll was harmless. Just by observing the writings on the paper they could see that it was a simple storage scroll. The shinobi did a few handseals and placed his hands on the scroll. A small cloud of smoke appeared and soon disappeared to leave place to a few yellow envelopes. The shinobi got back on his feet and handed one to the Kazekage and the other five, one to each of the shinobi accompanying the various leaders.

"Please feel free to let your attendants open them, so that they can confirm that they contain just pictures. Photographs." The ninjas began to check the envelopes. First by touching them, then by opening them and checking the contents. The Hokage turned to another one of the ninjas accompanying him, a member of the Hyuuga clan. The ninja confirmed that, indeed, the various envelopes contained just six copies of the same set of photos.

The ninja started handing the envelopes to their leaders, who promptly picked the photos from the envelope and laid them on the table right in front of them. "… What? What's the meaning of this?" As the Kazekage had foretold, the first one to have a noticeable reaction had been the Raikage. And he noticed that the Hokage too had become unnerved, even if he hid it perfectly. For anyone but a Kage.

"The sets is made of nine pictures, each one of a different person. Some are familiar to all of you, some just to one of you. But they all have something in common." The Kazekage pronounced those words with calm and collection, but it did nothing to soothe the raging Raikage. The dark-skinned man smashed his right hand clenched in a fist on his side of the marble table they were sitting at, smashing part of it to pieces.

"You! I want to talk right now!" He used his free hand to smash in front of him two of the pictures. "I want to know how you came in possession of a picture of my younger brother and another citizen of my village who has never even left it!"

"I must say, I'm quite surprised as well." The Mizukage brushed his chin and gently laid down in front of him two pictures different from the Raikage's ones. "The message I received requesting a summoning made me worried, and the fact that the envelope contained pictures made me think that we would be talking about missing nins… Instead…" He lifted the gaze from the pictures and shifted it to the Kazekage. "Instead, I find pictures of small kids, including a civilian and an academy student from my village…"

"All small kids, indeed… Apart Roshi and Han." The Tsuchikage passed a finger on her lips instinctively, observing the two pictures regarding the only adults represented, which were ninjas of her village too… And not just any ninjas. They were… War heroes. Heroes of a war they had lost, but still heroes, as in the sense that they held back powerful enemies so that many other ninjas could survive. "And… I think that maybe I understood. There's one thing these two have in common… And you said the others do too."

"They're all Jinchuuriki, right?" The leader of Takigakure decided to voice his thoughts. He didn't have a big spy network, being the leader of a minor ninja village, but they didn't need a 200 points of IQ to put together everything. Roshi and Han. They were famous shinobi for their battles in the last two shinobi wars the former, the last one the latter. But what they were known for mostly was because of them housing two tailed beasts. And since among those pictures there was his own Jinchuuriki…

"Indeed. You're quite sharp." The leader of Takigakure smiled, and adjusted his long hair behind one of his ears, the scar on his nose slightly showing. The Kazekage continued his speech. "In total, we have two Jinchuuriki from Kumogakure, two from Iwa, two from Kiri, one each from Suna, Taki, and Konoha."

Sarutobi hand went rigid, clenching on the marble table a little. He knew that at least one of the other countries would sooner or later become aware of Naruto's condition, but… What was the Kazekage's plan? "Kazekage-dono, you do realize you've probably just exposed to everyone here something that the others wanted to keep a secret…"

"It's not really a big deal, that, Sarutobi." The Raikage said, clenching and unclenching his right hand, sounds of bone cracking coming clearly from him. The Hokage turned to him a bit confused. "Sooner or later they wouldn't be a secret anymore, since they all are to become ninjas. What I'm mostly pissed off about is the fact that spies were sent into my village to spy on them."

"Indeed… Kazekage-dono, this is something I do not understand." The Mizukage continued, his voice still soft and almost soothing, so much that it was almost creepy. A male had no right to sound so. "Why go out of your way for something like this? As Raikage-dono said, it's basically useless… Moreso… It confuses me the fact that you revealed your own Jinchuuriki. This helps me understand that you're not doing this to scorn us or something, but still… Confusing."

"… My Gaara… He's probably the main reason of this meeting." The Kazekage picked up one of the photos and put it at the center of the table, showing the figure of a child with red hair sitting in a swing. The other kages picked the same picture as well. "Gaara is my own son. My youngest one, and he is the host of Shuukaku."

"The Ichibi… Then, I suppose he has been experiencing the same problems as his predecessors?" Asked the Hokage, knowing well that among them, Suna probably had the worst sealing technique for Jinchuuriki… Or maybe the best one, depending on how one looked at it. More than sealing, the technique was called of possession. The demon and the host continuously struggle for control over the body, so much that the person can rarely get sleep. But in exchange for that, the host gained peculiar abilities. To do something like that to his own son…

"Yes. But that's not what's worrying me." The Kazekage raised his head and slowly turned it from side to side. "The child has problems controlling his powers. This because of his… Emotive problems, that heavily influence his psyche. The source of his problems are mostly… The other inhabitants of the village and the demon's influence."

The sandaime's hand clenched a little more, thinking of how that situation sounded so much similar to the one he had in Konoha.

"I am sure that, even though in different measures, you have experienced these kind of problems as well." The Kazekage continued, earning a chuckle from the Tsuchikage, who seemed pretty entertained from the man's last words.

"I am sure as in 'I've spied on them', right, Kazekage-dono? But I understand what you're saying." The woman crossed her arms under her covered chin, her eyes showing a devious smile. "Roshi and Han too, in the beginning, were looked upon and treated as they were death incarnate to both our village and the enemy. They needed to go to war and come back after killing hundreds to change that."

"Hmmm… True, true. In my village I punish harshly who even dares to look in a bad way at my brother, but some of them just can't help it." The Raikage scratched his chin while grumbling a little under his breath. "And with Yugito they're even worse… The girl puts most of her life into training just to avoid other people. And she's just eight, for fu…"

"We do not need to know for whose sake, Raikage-dono." Interrupted the Mizukage, rolling his eyes a little. Such a fool, for a kage. "Well… I still don't see the reason of this meeting. My own Jinchuuriki are yes, treated like they're lower than dirt or just feared and avoided, but it's just a… Side-effect we all have to deal with for such weapons as themselves."

The leader of Takigakure felt a little guilty at that. While he didn't have the same value for human life as the Mizukage did, he still had made the choice of turning a baby girl from his village in a Jinchuuriki, exposing her to the scorn that came with being a weapon of such power… Yes, he had created a weapon.

"The things is, Mizukage-dono, that we're basically handling living bombs." The Kazekage replied, slowly shaking his head from side to side. "We've sealed beings of incredible power able to wipe out villages into babies, who are now children… Who are, by default, extremely easy to influence in any way." The man laid out the nine pictures in front of them, one by one, and then removed the two of the only adults in the group. "They are feared and hated because of this, but… What if they start to hate back? We seal the tailed beasts into hosts so that we can control their power, but if they give in to hate… Will the tailed beasts be the one controlling their hosts? Or will they just give in to certain… Suggestions. I know myself that they tend to be rather… Persuasive."

"… I have to agree. It has happened twice, with Han." The Tsuchikage still remembered the times when the boy, during the war, gave in to the beast's offer of 'help' on the battlefield. Too bad that the beast didn't care much about who got into the way of the slaughter it brought. Good thing Roshi noticed the thing and made everyone from Iwa leave the battlefield. "It can prove more detrimental than anything else in case of that happening."

"… And I suppose that having the hosts into submission wouldn't do any good, either. So…" The Mizukage raised his head ad looked at the Kazekage with seriousness. "Do you maybe have some kind of idea, Kazekage-dono?"

"I say we make them meet." He said. Those few simple words caused mainly surprise, but in Sarutobi's case they caused much indignation. "I think it would be for the best."

"Eh. Yes, make them meet. Like an annual Jinchuuriki camp or something?" The Mizukage joked, cover his eyes in sign of mocking disapproval for the idea. But…

"That was my idea, yes." The Kazekage didn't even blink, since that was pretty much his idea. In return, he made the Mizukage blink. "We must remember that we're talking about children, here. We don't know how much pressure they will be able to handle before they snap and we found ourselves with an emergency on our hands."

"So… You basically say we make them meet periodically, like, once a year?" The Raikage rubbed his chin and thought about it, trying to find possible traps. The leader of the hidden sand nodded.

"Yes. I propose we rotate the country for the yearly meeting between us, or we can just choose a neutral country. The point is to put them in an isolated environment. Just them and two of our most trusted shinobi for each village to guard them." The Kazekage kept on talking with cool and collection… Something that you would have usually expected from the Hokage, instead. But the fire shadow was visibly nervous, by now. "These children need more than just peers… They need to form relationships with people akin to them, so that they can understand each other. Something like this will be a stress reliever for them till they reach a suitable age."

"Hmph. Right. And tell me what it comes in for me and my village, Kazekage-dono." The Mizukage didn't like the idea at all.

"As I've already explained, the benefit of not having your 'weapons' suddenly turn on you should be more than enough, Mizukage-dono. Seeing as all our villages are allies, I don't see any reason for why you should be opposed to the idea, especially with how… Harshly you treat the two in your care. After all, it's not like you would plan of using them to invade one of the other major countries… Right?" The shadow of wind seemed to have planned everything, since the Mizukage 'tsk-ed' and then fell silent. Even if there was some plan like that, he couldn't just voice it out.

"… I'm in." The first agreement came from the leader of Takigakure, as he had predicted. Akin to the Hokage, the man was more human than most shinobi, so it was obvious he would care more for the mental health of his Jinchuuriki. Also, it wasn't like he could refuse an offer, a request from the major villages. It was a little honour to even be sitting with them at that table. "This would help strengthen the alliances between villages and at the same time get rid of the danger of having a serious bijuu problem on our hands in the future. I agree with Kazekage-dono's plan."

"… Hmmm… Well, I guess that Kirabi will be happy to have some new heads to bash in." The Raikage thought about it, and he guessed that getting out of the family estate before he turned genin would be helpful. And Yugito would benefit from it largely. "Alright. I think we can make that happen… But if I discover that this is some kind of elaborate plan to…"

"I'm sure it's nothing of the sort, Raikage-dono. It seems a pretty… Valid idea. I think I'll join in as well." The Tsuchikage seemed more entertained from the situation by the second. The Kazekage had foretold that too, even if it was maybe the only uncertainty in his plan.

"To tell the truth, I wouldn't dare thinking of you agreeing to the plan, Tsuchikage-dono. After all, there's nothing in for yourself… Your Jinchuuriki are grown up men." The woman just chuckled.

"My, Kazekage-dono. As you've said… We're allies. I don't always need to immediately gain something from an agreement. But rest assured…" Even if the thing went unnoticed by everyone in the room, the woman had focused her gaze on one thing… Or better, one photograph among the nine in front of them. "I will have my share of benefits from this agreement."

"I see… Mizukage-dono?" The water shadow seemed to emit a mix between a low growl and a snort. Sign that he was displeased. Basically the Kazekage had him where he wanted him. After showing his open displeasure earlier, the argumentations put on the table and the fact that most of the room had agreed with him…

"Fine. I suppose that a little kunoichi camp each year will help the social skills of my weapons. You never know on which missions they could be sent." He said, rapping the fingers of his right hand on the table. The Kazekage nodded and then turned to the last shadow in the room.

"I refuse." That made everyone but the Kazekage be surprised. They turned to Sarutobi Hizuren, whose eyes were narrower than what he had ever seen. "I'm not going to send… A boy, who still hasn't even begun his academy training…"

"I thought that you would be reluctant, Hokage-dono. After all…" The Kazekage picked up the picture of the only male blonde among the nine people in the photographs. A small kid with strange marks on his cheeks. "The boy… Uzumaki Naruto, right? His turning into a Jinchuuriki has been a case. And you still haven't… Broke the news to him."

"What?" To say that the Raikage was surprised was an euphemism. They didn't need an eagle to understand which bijuu the boy was housing, taking in account Konoha's history and the markings on the boy's face. "You mean the boy doesn't know of his condition?"

"No. And I plan for it to stay that way. The boy has got to have a chance at living a normal life." The fire shadow replied fiercely… But he noticed that the Raikage and the leader of Takigakure had narrowed their eyes.

"Hokage-dono, I must say that I'm very disappointed in you." That made everyone in the room turn to the 'Takikage'. It was a first. A leader of a minor country talking in that fashion to a Kage? "I thought you wiser than that."

"I support his line of thought, Sarutobi. I know that you had the best intentions, but you're handling this boy's situation in a bad way." Sarutobi stared back at the Raikage, waiting for him to continue. "Can you even imagine how the boy must feel? A whole village hating him… And he doesn't know why. Don't you think that he deserves to know why his life sucks?"

"If he gets to know of his situation, he…"

"He will finally understand that it's not because the other people are mean, but just stupid. He will also understand that he's not to blame, as he has surely asked himself many times." The leader of Takigakure took word again, and this time his words had a good effect. "You said that you want to give him a chance for a normal life, Hokage-dono… But he's never got that chance to begin with. But now… You have the chance to make it a happy one."

Sarutobi hand scraped the underside of the table, thinking about his chances. He was at a stalemate there. Everyone but him had agreed. And on top of that… Those words held truth in them. Did Naruto really had no chance at a normal life? Maybe if he had chosen to remain a civilian, but… He would begin the ninja academy the next September. "… I agree… On one condition, though."

"What would that be, Hokage-dono?" Asked the Kazekage, once again taking the reins of that discussion.

"… The first istance of this… Joined training camp…" The Hokage suggested the official façade they would use for the rest of the world. "Is to be held in Konoha."

"… Very well. I agree with those terms. Are there any complains?" None were raised from the remaining four leaders. The Kazekage nodded. "Very well. I'm happy that we have come to a successful agreement. Now, we should discuss the time and…"

Sarutobi's attention for the rest of the meeting would be split between taking part to the meeting… And thinking about how to 'break the news' to a five years old.

-Breakline-

"The first 'Joined Training Camp' of the allied villages will take place in Konoha's territory. It will have a duration of ten days, starting from the 1st of July and ending on the 11th of the same month. It's required of the…"

"Yadda, yadda, yadda. Damn, the only thing worse than Kirabi's rap is paperwork…" The Raikage's words were met by the inquisitive gaze of his attendants. Kirabi's rap was annoying as hell. He laughed. "Ahahah! Yeah, maybe I'm exaggerating! But I bet that he will have a sudden flock of inspiration when he knows of this."

"What about Yugito-san, Raikage-sama?" At that question, the Raikage replied with a snort and another round of laughter.

"Eheheh… The little princess will probably throw a fuss about how useless the thing will be while hiding the fact that she's indeed curious about knowing other people with the same condition as hers… And as such, with the same kind of power."

-Breakline-

"… Tsuchikage-sama, am I allowed to talk?"

"Please, do. I've actually been waiting for someone to ask me." The reaction of her attendant was priceless. She chuckled darkly. "My, it's obvious what you wanted to ask me. What possibly could I gain from this 'agreement'? After all, both our Jinchuurikis are grown up men, not snotty brats." She then picked out again the envelope that the Kazekage had provided her with, and picked out a single photograph from it. "This is the reason of my agreement."

Her attendant grabbed the pic and observed it closely. It was the pic of Konoha's Jinchuuriki. He… His eyes widened. "Y-You… I mean, it can't…"

"Stunning, isn't it? The resemblance…"

-Breakline-

"Tsk… I hate it." The Mizukage had the bad habit of eating his nails when really nervous about something. This time, it was the fact that he had basically been tricked into agreeing to that… That. "Well, I guess we can still make something out of it. Be sure to assign our best intelligence gatherers as 'guardians' of this playground."

"Yes, Mizukage-sama."

-Breakline-

The leader of Takigakure observed the horizon while he and his two attendants travelled back to their village. He thanked the gods to let him have found some way to repent himself, to make amend for what he had done to a little girl… For the greater good. He had made her agree with sweet words, but he still regretted it. "Be sure to notify Fu as soon as we go back."

-Breakline-

"A marvellous performance, Kazekage-sama."

"Everything went as planned." The leader of the hidden sand was already on his way back, the border of the fire country already near. "I must say… I had some doubts that it would all go so smoothly."

"But, must I say… Was it really worth all this trouble, Kazekage-sama?"

"… We get rid of him and we manage to blame it all on someone else. We could even get some profits out of it. And this someone else being Konoha is the icing on top of the cake." The Kazekage said, allowing himself a metaphor for once, even if it wasn't exactly his style. "Also… Let the child die without knowing why or who. It's out of pity."

-Breakline-

The Hokage had been faced with harsh decisions and hard tasks ever since the days of his prime as a ninja. But he felt like this one was going to be the hardest yet. To soften the blow he would have to use all that he knew about psychology. For the moment, he had to approach the target.

There he was, on a swing, trying to swing himself as high as possible, standing on his toes and jumping before letting himself be pushed forward… Just to realize that he had to have a solid grip on the chains, otherwise he would end up flying and impacting the ground face-first many other times. The Hokage instinctively palmed his face.

"Owie… The ground is hard…"

"Otherwise he would crack under the weight of all that ramen that you eat daily, Naruto." The hyperactive blonde forgot about the pain on his nose hearing the voice of one of the few human beings that bothered to talk to him, greeting him with a grin.

"Ojii-san!" He immediately got back on his feet, cleaning himself from the dust and the sand that he had collected with that last fall. "It's been a while!"

"Yes. I am sorry, but, I've been very busy. Being Hokage is not an easy work." Naruto grinned at that, crossing his arms behind his head.

"You should just let me take your job, old man! You're getting too old!" The Sandaime patted Naruto on top of his head, ruffling his hair. "So? What's up?"

"Well… I had to talk with you about something. Something… Big, Naruto." That made the child blink. The Sandaime motioned for him towards the swing on which he was sitting before. Naruto complied and sat on it, dandling his legs from it. "You see… Recently I had a meeting with all the other kages…"

"Eh? But weren't they all dead?" Sarutobi had to use chakra to stop gravity from dragging his face to the ground. Lots of chakra to strengthen his body. It helped remember that he still hadn't even started the academy, so, it wasn't like anyone had told him those basic points about the world of ninjas.

"Naruto, there are five shinobi in the world whose title ends with 'Kage', shadow. One for each of the major villages." Naruto opened his mouth in a 'ohhhh' of understanding. The Hokage sighed. "And we've come to a sort of agreement… Basically, it's training camp for young ninjas… Or ninjas to be, between the various allied ninja villages." Needless to say, Naruto jumped out of the swing and began to do a little victory dance. Even if the Hokage was sure that he didn't even know what a training camp was. "Naruto… The big news isn't that."

That made Naruto stop. Not the words themselves, but the tone the old man had used. Naruto knew that he used that tone only when he gotten real serious about something. He stopped dancing and screaming of how awesome he was and stared at the Sandaime's face.

"… Naruto… This also has to do with why… Most people treat you badly." That gotten Naruto's attention alright. He swallowed and sat on the swing again, beside the Sandaime, who drew in a silent but heavy sigh. "Naruto… You know about the Kyuubi, right? The demon who attacked the village six years ago?" Naruto nodded. Of course he knew. He idolatrized the fourth Hokage, and the day the fact happened was also his birthday. "Well, you must know that the Kyuubi is one of a group of nine demons. They are called 'bijuu'."

"Bi… Bijuu…" Naruto pronounced the word, like just to see of it felt coming of his mouth. "Tailed beasts?"

"Exactly. This because each demon has a different number of tails. The Ichibi one tail, the Niibi two, and so on to the Kyuubi, who has nine tails." The Sandaime was about to tell Naruto that the bijuu were immortal since they were beings made of chakra and as such they couldn't be killed in a conventional way, but he remembered that the boy didn't know what chakra is. "There's the fact that the bijuu are basically immortal. They can't be killed."

"Eh? But the fourth Hokage did kill it…" Naruto replied, going by memory of the story how he had heard it. The Sandaime shook his head.

"No, Naruto. Sadly, the Kyuubi couldn't be killed. Not even the fourth Hokage, with all his power, was able to kill it." Naruto's face was showing more confusion by the second. Sarutobi decided that it was better if the boy got to it on his own instead of hearing it from him directly. "Naruto, answer this question. There's a criminal. But you don't want or you can't kill him. So, what do you do to make it do no more harm to other people?"

"Eh… Uhm…" Naruto brought a finger to his lips, thinking about it very hard, squinting his eyes… He suddenly clapped his hands. "You put it in prison!" The Sandaime nodded to acknowledge that he had made a correct statement. "So the Yondaime put the Kyuubi in prison somewhere?"

"Yes, but… Not exactly somewhere. No real prison could hold the Kyuubi. He put it in prison… Inside of something." Naruto blinked at that. He had put it in prison inside of something? But what? Suddenly, he saw the Sandaime raise his right index finger and use it to tap his forehead. "Or better… He put it in prison inside of someone."

Naruto needed less than ten seconds to connect the dots. Even if he looked like a goof, he wasn't less intelligent than his peers. Or maybe it was just that, he didn't know why, connecting the dots about that particular matter had been so easy… He brought his tiny hands to his chest, feeling his heart picking up speed. "I… He…"

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to at least try to have a normal life, Naruto. As they say, ignorance is bliss. But you've decided to become a ninja… So, I don't see any reason to keep on hiding this from you." Naruto brought his hands to his head and shook it around, sign that he still couldn't understand something.

"B-But… I mean, if I keep people protected from harm… Why do they hate me? Shouldn't they be… Thankful? Instead…"

"It's because they're stupid… Or just too afraid." Naruto slowly raised his head to meet the Hokage's gaze. "People aren't perfect, Naruto. Even if they know that it was the Yondaime who sealed the demon into you, they fear that one day he could break out… Or they think he already has done so and took control of your body… Or that you have never been human to begin with."

"That… That's… Not fair…" Naruto's eyes started to tear up. It was like, knowing the reason of that harsh treatment, it had become even colder to him. Sarutobi sighed.

"Naruto… You must know that this is a secret to people your age. And I'd advice you to keep it a secret if you want to make some friends… But it's up to you… And there are some exceptions." Naruto blinked at that. Sarutobi patted his legs. Now, it was time for the second thing to do. Hoping it would cheer him up a bit. "You remember what I told you before about the bijuu, right? How many of them there were?"

"… Nine, right?" Sarutobi nodded.

"Exactly. Nine bijuu… For a total of nine people hosting them." Naruto blinked at that, the tears stopping for a while. The Hokage smiled at him reassuringly. "There are other people like you, Naruto. Most of them are around your age. We and the other kages have agreed to make you meet."

"You mean… They… Won't hate me even if they know?" The Hokage shook his head.

"Not at all. They're in the same situation as you, so, they would understand what you're going through. But from there to making them your friends is another matter. It all depends on you." Naruto sniffed and stopped crying at that, rubbing his eyes. "Since this involves a secret, even what this 'camp' really is will be secret, Naruto. You can't tell anyone the real reason you out of all people is going there."

"Yes, jii-san… I'll just tell who asks that I'm going to a… Ehm…" Naruto pushed his lips forward cutely, trying to remember exactly what words the Hokage had used a few moments before.

"Joined Training Camp with the allied villages of the leaf. Ah, it starts on the 1st of July. It will be held here in Konoha."

-Breakline-

_Two weeks later_

"So, let's go over the rules one more time, Naruto." The child puffed his cheeks out. They had done nothing but that for the last three days.

"Jii-san, it's one of the few things in my life I remember perfectly, by now, along with how you cook ramen. The camp is ten days long and I can't leave the place till it's over. I should try to not get into fights and I can't show any techniques of my village to other people. But I don't know any, jii-san, so the last part is useless."

"Exactly. And in case you need something, you can ask the two… 'Supervisors' of the camp…" Since they were the oldest Jinchuuriki alive, the two from Iwa had been given the task of supervising the younger ones. The Tsuchikage, surprisingly, had offered the two's help also for some teaching. As in, how to deal with their unwanted guests. "Or one of the two ninjas behind me."

"Dog-san and owl-san, alright, alright. This makes the… Ehm…" Naruto still hadn't learned to count over five hundred, sadly. "A lot of times!" He said, he then turned to the gates of the place where they would be staying. They were big and of wood, like a miniature of the palisade that surrounded Konoha. "What is this place again, jii-san?"

"It's an old place where ANBU trained, Naruto. It's well protected and hidden from everyone but who knows how to get to it." The Hokage wasn't about to start explaining to Naruto about selective genjutsu, so that explanation would suffice. "There's a courtyard, a few barracks, and a small pond. It's not been used in a couple years, but it's still in good shape." That was another lie. The place was still used, but from that day onward it wouldn't be anymore.

"Ahhh… Alright." Naruto stopped in front of the gates to observe them, and when he turned around again, the two masked ninjas walking with the Hokage weren't there anymore. He blinked. "Ehm… If I want to talk with them, how do I do it?"

"They'll know when you do want. Well…" The Hokage stepped in front of Naruto and opened the doors a little. What was needed for Naruto to walk inside. "Have fun, Naruto."

"… I will, jii-san." Naruto nodded and then swallowed. He was a bit nervous… But nonetheless, he really, really wanted to go inside there. In those past two weeks, ever since he had discovered about the Kyuubi, he had felt even worse around the villagers… But at the same time, he was looking forward to those ten days. He started to walk towards the open doors and walked past the Hokage, gripping the straps of his backpack, hard. The Hokage slowly closed the door behind him… Till it closed with a small sound.

"I hope you do get a happy life, Naruto." The Hokage whispered silently, turning around right after and starting to head back to the village.

**Leadership**

**Book I, Chapter I: Beginnings**

Naruto took a few steps behind the door before stopping to look around. As the Hokage had said, the place was kinda plain. The main courtyard was very large, and there were barracks here and there, along with a few trees to provide shade. He could make out the pond, and… In the center of the courtyard, a group of people. He swallowed. There he was. He began to walk towards the group, taking in the people that made it up. One by one.

The first who caught his attention was a boy of his same age sitting on the ground. He caught his attention because of the teddy bear he was carrying around and because of his hair. He had never seen such a colour. So red… And why there was black around his eyes?

Then, there was the only member of the group who was even younger than him. He couldn't be more than four years old. He too had a particular kind of hair. They were of a strange kind of gray… What was the name… Platinum. But not only that. Even his eyes were strange… They were pink. Also, he was crouched down, sitting silently, observing a single flower on the ground, between his stretched legs.

There was another one in the group with strange eyes and hair… And skin. She had tanned skin, orange eyes… And aquamarine hair. She seemed to be around his age. She was sitting on the steps of one of the barracks near the kid with the red hair, reading a little book. She looked around his age.

It seemed that people around his age were over. Those who remained were all older… There was a kid with black hair, very slender… Also, he could see just one of his eyes, the right one, since the other were covered by his hair falling in front of his face. And even the uncovered one was almost completely closed, so much that he could hardly make out its colour. Thankfully it was black as well. He was standing near the pink-eyed boy, observing his actions with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Then, another boy. This one was very particular, other than being at least ten years old. Maybe more, judging from his height. First thing, he had never seen someone with such skin. Dark brown, so dark… Also, he had white hair, like cream… Why they were tied up in that silly way? Also, he wore sunglasses. And a bandana around his forehead. He was particularly focused, it seemed. He was writing things on a small book with a pen.

The only other girl of the group seemed to like black a lot. Also, she was probably the only one dressing like a ninja, even if it was not a real training camp. The others kids were all dressed in t-shirts and short pants… Apart the boy with the red hair, who had some kind of cloak draped around his shoulders. The girl had long blonde hair, but of a darker shade than his own, tied in a ponytail, and… She was wearing lipstick? No… No, those were her real lips.

The underage people were over. The other two people who he could see were both grown ups. One had the same hair colour as the kid with the teddy bear, and he seemed quite old. Not as old as jii-san, but still old. He was wearing brown clothes. A long sleeveled jacket and pants, and long black boots. Also, it seemed like he had some kind of big tattoo over his nose and cheeks. He was sitting with his eyes closed on a rock beside the pond.

Then, the last one… He couldn't tell exactly how old he was. The only thing he knew was that he was enormous, more than 6'6'' and that he couldn't see anything but his brown eyes. Everything else was covered by either cloth or some kind of red armour, and… Was that a chimney on his back? It let out smoke… He was standing with his eyes closed and his arms crossed, leaning against a tree, also near the pond.

He swallowed even more. He was so nervous. But it seemed that they had noticed his arrival, or maybe they had heard him swallow. All he knew was that the old man had opened his eyes and focused his gaze on him. He raised one of his hands and waved it weakly. "H-Hi…"

"It seems that everyone's here." The old man got up from his sitting position, while the bigger man pushed himself away from the tree. They began to walk towards the centre of the courtyard. He instinctively approached them as well. The Hokage had told him that the camp's 'supervisors' were going to be the two grown ups of their group. The two's stares immediately focused on him, since he was the first one who had approached them. "Well, I honestly thought you would be the first one to arrive. You're the host, after all."

"Ehm… I'm sorry." He replied, his head low and his voice apologetic. The man shrugged.

"It's no big deal. Just surprised. Now, gather around, children." Continued the red-haired man. Everyone obeyed, some more slowly than the others. The last one to reach the group was the kid with the dark skin, who had to use some willpower to stop writing things on his handbook. When they were all gathered around him, the man started observing all of them one by one. "Alright. Just a little reminder of the rules, then we will begin the introductions."

"Even if this is supposed to be a way to strengthen ties between allied villages, we won't ask you and you shouldn't show us techniques exclusive to your village, if you know some of them." The big man had started talking. His voice came out a bit muffled, obviously. But it was clear and strong. "All that we will do here is train about how to better keep under control our guests and how to better use their powers. We won't ask you anything that you will not want to let us know. We'll be fine with a name and the number of your tails."

"That out of the way, we can start introducing each other." The old man picked something out of his right pocket. It was a metal plaque… From a forehead protector, Naruto recognized. "My name is Roshi. I am a ninja from Iwa. I host the four tails."

"Han. The same. Only that my demon has five tails." Han used one of his gloved hands to point at his own metallic forehead protector. He then used his eyes to look around the younger ones around him. "Who goes next?"

"Me! Me!" It seemed that Naruto had quickly gotten over his embarrassed state, and was now just right-out excited by the thing. He flashed them one of his better grins. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm from Konoha, and… I have the Kyuubi."

"You're killing my buzz! Your demon is nutz!" At that comment, everyone turned to the source. The dark skinned boy. Holding his right hand out with index and pinky fingers stretched. Naruto was the one to comment everyone's thoughts, more or less.

"… Wha?"

"He 'stroyed a whole village not because of pillage!" It was good that it was summer, so that Naruto's and the green haired girl's dumbfounded stares could be strengthened by the sound of crickets. Noticing the attention, the dark skinned boy continued. "Impressed with my rhyming skills, are you? I'm the Killer Bee! Eight are my tails, from Kumo I hail!"

"The real name's Kirabi, and he's the younger brother of the Raikage." Said the older girl, sighing. "I'm from Kumo as well. My name is Yugito. And I house the two tailed beast." The giant Han nodded in acknowledgement and then turned to the two boys that he knew were from Kiri.

The two boys were staring at them both, the one with pink eyes a bit more absent minded… Or better, he seemed unfocused, even if his gaze was fixed on them. The older one decided to talk first. "We both are from Kiri. My name is Utakata. I have the six tailed beast." He then put a hand on top of the youngest person of their group. "His name is Yagura. He houses the three tailed beast."

"… You're orphans, aren't you?" The two kiri members nodded, and Roshi sighed in understanding before turning towards the boy with the red hair and the teddy bear.

Feeling everyone's attention on him he smiled nervously. "Ehm… I'm… Gaara. Sabaku no Gaara. I'm the Kazekage's son. I have… The Ichibi."

"And least, but not last…" Roshi turned to the last remaining member of their little ragtag group. The young girl… Who a few moments before had started reading again the little book she had put away. Suddenly feeling silence around her, she lifted her gaze from the pages.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry, sorry! I wanted to know how it continued…" She said, laughing while rubbing the back of her head, embarrassed. She closed the book and put it back in some kind of weapon pouch. She clapped her hands and bowed. "My name is Fu! I host the seven tailed beast! I come from Takigakure! It's nice to meet you all!"

"Good. Try to learn all the names in these ten days. After all, some of you will stay here for six years." Roshi said, but his words were met with confusion. He slightly patted his own head. "Right, right. I forgot to say. This camp is for non genins only. So, that means that you will our guest this year only, Kirabi."

"Buzz killer! Filthy filler! Nude of Ben Stiller!" Kirabi mouthed the things that, in his mind, should have been insults. But they really didn't have that great of an effect. Mostly because most of them didn't know what a 'buzz', a 'filler' and 'Ben Stiller' were. Roshi just shrugged them off.

"Now, we'll give you two hours to get acquainted with the place. After that, lunch… And then we'll talk about our 'training sessions' that we will do all together. But before that… You've been split up into little groups for the barracks." Roshi pulled out a piece of paper where he had written everything… Only to find out that it was an old grocery list. "Han, did you…" He found the right paper already in front of his face. He coughed a little embarrassed. "Thank you. So… Hmmm… First barrack: Nine, One and Three." Crickets and little stares. He sighed. "It refers to the number of your tails. We just knew your ages and gender, you know…"

"Ah. Then, you two are with me!" Naruto grinned, suddenly hyper at having two room-mates. Gaara smiled weakly, while the younger boy just stared immobile. But suddenly, he turned his head to Utakata, who nodded to him. He turned his head back around and began to walk to the barrack, surprising Naruto a little. "H-Hey! Wait!"

"Second barrack: the two lovely ladies… What's so damn interesting in that book?" Fu rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. She got caught again. She then turned to Yugito and extended her hand for her to shake, only to find that the kumo student was already on her way to their barrack. "And lastly, the crazy one and the almost silent one."

"Yo! Your acquaintance is welcome to me! Shacked together we will be!" Kirabi needed to drop that annoying thing. Or at least, he should maybe just save it up for battles. It was a fine damn way to annoy enemies, but in social relationships… Utakata didn't seem fazed at all, though. He just bowed politely in acknowledgement.

When all the younger ones were gone from sight and earshot, the two Jinchuuriki from Iwa began to talk again.

"So? What do you think of them?" Asked Han. It was a custom of him to always ask for a more experienced one's opinion first, in case he could have it. Roshi 'hmmm'ed before answering.

"Well, they all are just kids, but all seem to have at least a minimum of practice with handling their demon… Except for the one from Konoha." Han moved his gaze to the barracks where the three youngest ones were having troubles with turning a handle… Or better, Naruto was, till he fell on his butt. Yagura just opened for him right after. "And I don't think he has ever even been told anything about ninja arts…"

"Hmph. Seems like it, but… Tsuchikage-sama was right about that other thing." Roshi nodded in agreement with Han.

"Yes. But even if it is true, I don't think he himself knows about it. Otherwise, give his personality, he would have boosted about it… What do you think about the other children's attitudes?" Han crossed his arms in front of his chest yet again, his gaze still locked on the door of Naruto's barrack.

"The two from Kiri are very difficult to read. What you'd expect from ninjas from Kiri… Even if they're just kids. It will take some time… The two from Kumo…" Han sighed at that. "They're both quite experienced in the use of their demonic chakra, and even if he doesn't look like it, the Raikage's brother has some degree of skill in a certain area… I don't know exactly which one. The Kazekage's son…" Han stopped when he managed to get a glimpse of the boy he was talking about closing the door of the barrack. "He seems very vulnerable and sensible. Even more than a normal children of that age. And finally, the girl from Takigakure… She seems pretty normal, but she could just be faking it… Really good, if that's the case. Also, I'm curious about her obsession about that book."

"Yeah…" Roshi picked out from one of his pouches some tobacco and a little piece of fabric… Papyrus, maybe? He just put the tobacco into the rectangular slit and rolled it into a perfect cylinder. He then put it to his mouth… In a few seconds, smoke started to leak out of his closed mouth. He took the hand-made cigar out of his mouth and blew out smoke. "Makes you wonder what book is. She put another cover on it…"

-Breakline-

"So… You're from… Ehm… I know you're from another villages, but I don't know which ones…" We'll let slide Naruto's grammatical error and focus on the fact that he talking with Gaara and Yagura, asking them about their homes. Yagura was watching something out of the window near his bed, while Gaara was sitting in front of Naruto on his own, still clutching his teddy. He decided to speak first, though.

"I'm from Sunagakure… Village hidden in the sand." The red head raised his head and allowed himself to smile a little at Naruto, still nervous. Naruto's mouth opened in a 'Ohhh'. Children…

"Sand… Wow! What's your village like? Is it full of sand? The only sand I've ever seen is the one in the playground…" Gaara seemed a bit fazed by Naruto's cheerfulness, but he quickly composed himself.

"The village stands in the middle of… A huge hollow mountain in the middle of the desert, to shield us from the sandstorms…" Gaara noticed that Naruto's eyes squinted at the word 'hollow'. The redhead chuckled a bit at that. "Hollow means… That there's a huge hole in it. The mountain is basically a big circular wall."

"Ahhh, understood… Wow, sounds cool. What about you?" Naruto turned his head to Yagura, who didn't look like he was going to move away from the window anytime soon.

"… Kiri. Hidden Mist." He simply replied. Naruto frowned.

"That's all?" Yagura didn't reply, and Naruto's forehead twitched. Was he deliberately ignoring him or what? He hopped on his bed and crawled to him to the window. "Alright. Just what the hell are you staring at?"

Yagura didn't reply or even move a single inch. He just kept on staring out of the window. Naruto puffed out his cheeks and then followed the boy's gaze… Finding out that he was staring at a flower, again. There was a single, big, yellow flower just out of the window, behind the barrack. He was staring at it with such intensity…

"The flower?" Naruto said, calming down a little. Mostly because he didn't understand the reason of such interest. He turned to Yagura to see him nod slightly. "And… Why are you staring at it so much?"

"… It's growing." Naruto wasn't exactly a genius, but he at least knew that plants took a while to grow. So, he labelled the small silver-haired child as totally nuts. He turned to Gaara again.

"Since he's kinda nuts, wanna go play outside for a while?" Gaara suddenly raised his head in a flash. He wanted to play with him? Really? But his father had said… Naruto noticed his really surprised stare. "Uh? What's wrong?"

"You… Want to play with me?" Naruto nodded, not understanding the sense of that question. "But… My father said that… Here it would be the same as back home…" Gaara lowered his head again, feeling uneasy while remembering what always happened into the village. Naruto blinked at that… And then came something to his mind. They were all like him, in that place… And maybe, because of that, they had gone through the same things as him.

"They call you with harsh words, look at you with cold eyes and shun you?" Gaara slowly raised his head and looked at Naruto, hearing those words… He nodded.

"But it's not only that… I mean, they fear me too… Since I hurt them sometimes." Naruto blinked at that. He hurt them? Gaara began to tremble a little. "I… When I'm upset, I can't control my powers… And I end up hurting other people."

"… Well, then it's their fair for upsetting you, right?" Naruto said. At that Gaara's eyes widened and looked up at Naruto again. "I mean, they knew that it happens, so, if they keep on upsetting you they're idiots."

Gaara took in Naruto's words and then thought about it… Yes, it was true. What he did was unintentional, but he knew that it was caused by how people treated him. So, why did they still upset him so much if they knew he would freak out? That sounded… "Stupid… Yes…"

"Yeah! So, don't worry! Now that I know that you can hurt him, I'm so not going to upset you!" Naruto grinned and offered him his left hand. Gaara looked up at him and smiled, taking it, blushing a little.

"Well… I don't think I could, right now, though." Naruto blinked at that. "I mean… My powers use sand… But there's no sand here, so, I can't use them…"

"Even better! Let's go out and play!" Yes, even better… But for who?

-Breakline-

Yugito had nothing to do at the moment. Most of the time in her village she trained. She knew that many villagers feared her, but she had learned years before to simply ignore them. She focused on what she was supposed to do. Becoming one of the strongest ninjas in the village, just training all the time… So, he didn't really had a hobby or anything like that.

They had given them some time before lunch to get acquainted with the place, they said. But the problem was that she didn't know how to invest it, since she had already explored the whole settlement right after she had arrived. So… The blonde's eyes fell upon her roommate, who had done nothing but read that book she seemed so engrossed with. She decided that she might as well make a little… 'Small talk'. "What's that book about?"

"Uh?" Fu blinked and turned around, surprised that something had distracted her from her book. She turned around to face Yugito, still not completely sure that she had really interrupted her. She found the blonde staring at her, waiting for a response. She blushed and laughed a little. "Ehm, sorry… I tend to get too absorbed into reading…"

"I figured as much." Indeed. Yugito had noticed that the orange-eyed girl had showed a high level of focus while reading that book. She would never admit it, but she seemed to be able to focus even better than she could. "So?"

"Ah, right." Fu closed the book carefully after putting something into it to keep track of her progression, and then showed it to Yugito. The book had another cover over the original one, a hard, orange one. She couldn't see the title. "It's called 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja'! It's my favourite book!"

_The title is kind of lame._ Yugito didn't voice her thoughts, since she reasoned that insulting something she liked so much wasn't exactly a good idea. "What does it talk about?"

"It's about a gutsy ninja!" Yugito sweatdropped. She had guessed that much. "I mean, it's about the story of a strong ninja that strives against many difficulties for the sake of those he loves and to get rid of a malevolent curse cast upon him, never giving up!"

"… It sounds nice." Fu seemed to be beaming. Unknown to Yugito, she had never had anyone to talk with about her favourite book.

"Want to read it?" She exclaimed, before turning around and diving into her backpack. Yugito waved her hand in front of her.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't want to steal your source of.."

"Nah! It's cool! I have two copies!" Fu basically shoved into Yugito's face another copy of the book. Same hard cover, same weight, same number of pages. The kumo jinchuuriki slowly took a hold of it.

"… Why do you carry two copies around?"

"Just to be on the safe side." Fu replied while smiling widely. And Yugito had the feeling she had just put herself into something… Weird.

-Breakline-

"Yo! So, what's it like, in your country? You bite the dust much?" Utakata wasn't as silent as Yagura, mostly because he did most of the talk for the both of them, but at the moment he was at a real loss of words. Because he just couldn't understand what Kirabi had just said him.

"Could… You please talk normally, since I can't understand anything of what you're saying?" He calmly said, with Kirabi stopping his body motions, leaving his mouth wide open in particular since he was about to go through another round of rhyming. He thought about it for a few seconds, it seemed, before finally closing his mouth.

"I guess my awesome art is not appreciated by everyone in the world…" Kirabi said, crossing his arms in front of his chest. Utakata sighed.

"Or better, there are times in which you can talk like that and times when you shouldn't." The boy from Kiri said, earning a snort from Kirabi.

"You talk just like my big brother… How old are you?"

"Nine years old." Kirabi got in a sitting position on his bed.

"And you already talk like an adult? Man, that's freaky. Where you raised like that or what?" The kumo jinchuuriki asked. Utakata seemed to think about the reply for a little while, before answering.

"Something like that. My village isn't know for its liberality, after all." Kirabi 'Hmm'ed at that. He knew the infamous nickname of the hidden mist, 'bloody mist'. He could just imagine how worthy of that name the place was. Kumo was no joke when it came to training ninjas, but from what he heard about Kiri, most of the ninjas in that place were downright psychotic. While he thought about it, he saw the black haired boy pick something from his backpack. It looked like… No, it was a pipe.

"What's that thing you got there?" Asked Kirabi, obviously curious. Utakata didn't reply. He just brought the tip of the long thing to his mouth and started puffing into it… Only for bubbles to come out of it. Soap? "Ehm… Exactly what are you doing?"

"Don't worry, I can talk just fine while doing this. It's an exercise I do daily." Kirabi blinked at that. An exercise? What kind of exercise it was to make soap bubbles with… No, wait a minute. He could feel some chakra coming from the little things that were floating into the air in front of him.

And not just any kind of chakra. It was… "Does it have to do with the powers of your 'guest'?"

"Yes. The six tails." Kirabi nodded and then grinned, intrigued.

"Eh… You know, I kinda want to fight you." The black skinned jinchuuriki said, before laying back on his bed and picking out of his pocket a pen and his little handbook. Another rhyme had just surfaced in his mind.

-Breakline-

After the time of 'getting acquainted with the territory' using a metaphor more suited for dogs than human beings, it was time for lunch… And much to the Jinchuuriki's surprise they had discovered that their lunch had been left in the middle of the courtyard… Along with one big-ass table? Naruto had seen some tables like those ones in picnic areas. Table and bench fused together. How cool was that?

He had even been delighted when he found that half of his lunch was made out of bowls of ramen. His cry of the name of his favourite food had actually brought out of hiding the two ANBU from Kiri, just to discover that the supposed enemy 'with a food's codename' was, in fact, food. And even the usually silent Han had to stay agape at the amount of food the boy had managed to put in his stomach. Jinchuuriki had higher metabolism than normal people and needed to eat more, yes, but he was ridiculous.

"Wheeeeeew! I'm stuffed!" He exclaimed, patting his stomach. And the thing was probably a bottomless pit or something, looking at how it wasn't even swelled. The others had already finished their smaller meal or were about to finish it and that said all on its eating speed as well.

"Ehm… Glad to know it." Roshi scratched the top of his head while setting aside his chopsticks. Since they were all together in one place and at ease he thought they could start with the first lesson. He had already thought of a metaphor too. He breathed in and out deeply. "Now… I suppose it's time me and Han hold our end of the deal." That caught the attention of everyone sitting at the table, while Fu finished her food for last as she was doing something else while eating. Guess what? "But before that, we'll ask you a few questions."

"First question, how many years have you been aware of your 'situation'?" Han asked, and he noticed the subtle shudder coming from Naruto. He hid it well. But not well enough. "In order of tails."

"I was two years old… My uncle told me." Gaara still remembered it as clear as day. They had decided that it would be Yashamaru to tell him because he had also been the one appointed to take care of him and as such, the person closer to him.

"Two years old as well. The same goes for Kirabi." Explained Yugito, cutting in for his fellow companion from Kumo, fearful that he would use rap again.

Yagura was silent. It seemed that when they were together, Utakata took upon himself the task of talking for the both of them.

"We both were told as soon as we were able to understand what it meant." A little evasive as it didn't really reveal what they had asked, but it was enough for Roshi. That meant a very young age. He turned to Fu who for once wasn't reading… Even if the book was still open on the table.

"Ehm… Four years old." She said, a finger to her lips in sign of thought, like she wasn't sure she was telling the right age. Roshi just nodded. The only one left was Naruto.

"Ehm…" He was a little nervous, it seemed. He took a few seconds before answering truthfully. "They told me… Two weeks ago."

Roshi blinked at that, for the first time since the young ones knew him showing surprise at something… Well, second, but the first was about the blonde's eating habits. So, it didn't really count. He relaxed and the sighed. _The Sarutobi in my memories wasn't this stupid…_ "Alright. Judging from the feeling of your chakra and from what you've told me, I can understand who has already been 'trained' in complying with their guests and who hasn't. But believe me…" He aspired some smoke from the handmade cigar he had just made before puffing it out in little clouds of smoke in various shapes. "You will never get better teachers than me and Han, about that. Your villages' teachers have just stories, theories and suppositions to go by. We both have years of experience."

"The first thing that you must understand… Is that there isn't a common way of dealing with each and every demon the same way." Han continued the speech of his 'senpai'. "In this the bijuu are like people. As in, they each have a different personality and things the like and dislike."

"And another important thing… Maybe the most important… Is that a bijuu's power isn't supreme. As in, there are opponents who are able to go toe to toe against us even without possessing the power of a tailed beast." Roshi took a few more puff of smoke. "So, you will basically ask us, what's the use of being a Jinchuuriki? What good does the Bijuu's power do us?"

"The thing that is common to every bijuu is that they are basically chakra batteries. The more the tails the more the chakra they give out." That got Yugito's interest.

"Wait a minute. So that means… That the niibi is like, second to last in regards of chakra?" She asked. Roshi nodded.

"Yes. But, as Han was saying, that's just one aspect. In the ninja world, it's not always the one with the most chakra who comes out as the winner of a fight." Roshi said, suddenly making the cigar rotate on the tip of his right index finger with ease, like it was a kunai. "The bijuu will give you chakra and certain abilities, but it will still be you the ones who will have to put it to use. Even the sharpest blade is useless in the hands of a fool."

"Certain abilities? Like?" The part about getting certain 'abilities' from the bijuu had gotten Naruto's attention.

"Good question. Well, for example, my bijuu gave me… We could call it a unique Kekkei Genkai of the elemental kind." The crickets around Naruto were being asked for more. Roshi sweatdropped. "Ehm… Right. You haven't even started the academy."

"Kekkei Genkais are like… Special ninja powers that can't be learned, right?" Fu said, raising her hand. Han nodded.

"Exactly. They are not 'techniques' per se, since they can't be thought. They are something that comes with blood. And not always. Following us so far?" Naruto nodded. Super cool power that you had to be born with. Okay. "Now, the elemental ninjutsu is basically split into five elements: fire, water, wind, earth, thunder. There are certain bloodlines that make the user able to mix two of these elements to create a completely new one."

"That's the kind of power I got from my bijuu." Finished Roshi, earning a 'ohhh' of admiration and interest from Naruto. "I don't know about the other bijuu, sadly. And finally, the last thing… There are two ways of using the bijuu's chakra."

"Two… Ways?" Han needed again, crossing his arms over his chest yet again. It was a habit which he obeyed to very often, it seemed.

"The first is by drawing upon it as you would do with your own chakra and use it for your techniques or to enhance your body functions and structure. You should note that the 'strengthening effect' of the bijuu chakra is superior to that of normal chakra." He said, then looked at Roshi, asking him to continue.

"Then, the second way… Is to basically become a miniature version of your beast." The young ones all blinked at that. He had seen that coming, since they had been probably trained just in the first way, to that moment. "Basically… Instead of drawing and using their chakra in a normal way… You basically let it invade your body, which becomes even stronger, and usually a cloak of chakra envelopes your entire self, in the shape of the bijuu. You all start at one tail, and the more 'tails' of power you add the more powerful you become."

"Wow! Cool!" Exclaimed Naruto, thinking about how cool it would be… To suddenly turn into a miniature Kyuubi? Thinking about it again…

"… But there are risks with this method. Otherwise me and Han would always use it." Roshi finished burning away his cigar, while Han took word again.

"Demonic chakra is different from ours. Our body can only take so much before it becomes harmful." That made a couple of the children gulp. "The most a person can take is three tails worth of power. That means that Yagura, Gaara and Yugito aren't ever going to be faced with that kind of predicament. For all the others… From the fourth tail onward, you start tapping in the beast's real power. But at a price, since it starts damaging your body."

"Exactly. My suggestion is, in case you're facing a strong enemy and you need to power up, you can go with tries till the third tail… If you see that it's not enough, don't go through each of the other ones." Roshi scratched the tip of his nose instinctively. "Go all out immediately, the highest level of power, to make the battle end earlier and minimize the damage."

"And finally… There's the last risk." Naruto gulped. It still wasn't over? "You can bet that some of the bijuu are 'demons' in the real sense of the term. Like mine. These ones will always try to take over your conscious self and substitute it with their own. And the more you tap into their power, the more you will lose yourself. There could the chance you can never go back in control ever again. People able to suppress a bijuu's power are rare. Really rare."

"… That's enough for today. Take your time to think about what you've learned today." Roshi said, getting up from his seat. "Starting from tomorrow… We will start the real lessons."

"Ehm, jii-chan, a question!" Roshi stopped walking away because of the nickname more than anything. He turned to face Naruto and nodded to him to signal to him to talk. "I… Ehm, there's something I didn't understand… I mean, what is chakra?"

Five faces met the ground with such force that the ground shook and trembled, making the ANBU appear again. Roshi rubbed his sore nose while thinking that the boy was probably the first Jinchuuriki in history who had not been trained in ninja arts since young days. But after all, that was the first time someone ever managed to seal the Kyuubi.

-Breakline-

"… As we foresaw, then." The two ANBU from Suna were having a 'debrief' with another shinobi from their same village, who had joined them… Unofficially. As in, as much as the others knew, he wasn't there. They had been observing the activities during the first day of the camp.

"Yes. The Shukaku's protection is… Less effective, here, if not absent." One of the ANBU said, then letting the other one continue.

"The boy still has no full control over his powers. In a place without sand like this… It's doubtful he will put up much resistance." Their 'secret colleague' nodded, acknowledging truth in their words.

"Still… There still the problem of the other ANBU… And the 'camp leaders'." He said, thinking that indeed, there were still four ninjas plus two Jinchuuriki. It was doubtful that the ones from Kiri would do anything if they didn't target one of their own weapons. The two containers from Iwa had the responsibility of their younger counterparts, it was certain that they would jump in at any sign of danger. And the ninjas from leaf seemed to take this alliance façade seriously. They would help as well. "We need a distraction."

"What about a summoning? A relatively strong one would force at least the ANBU to get away."

"That would leave the two Jinchuuriki… And they're the biggest problem…" The unknown ninja rubbed his chin in thought… And then snapped his fingers. "One summoning isn't enough."

"You mean we should make one than one summoning?" The man nodded in reply.

"Yes. At least four. In different directions, so that they are forced to split up and leave the camp to intercept them. They will not risk to bring the fight near the camp."

"But… To summon four beasts strong enough to keep occupied two ANBU or one of those two experienced Jinchuuriki long enough… It will take almost all of our chakra."

"It's alright. After all, I was supposed to do the job alone. After all it would raise suspicions if you weren't there fighting the summonings as well. You should maybe go one each with the two Jinchuuriki, to hinder them… And it's not like I would need any help to take care of the child." The man brought a hand down to his feet, grasping the soft, wet, humus under his feet. "Sabaku no Gaara. His name says all. As long as he's surrounded by sand… He's protected. But without sand…" He crushed the piece of humus in his hands, sending drops of it flying everywhere. "He's nothing dangerous."

The two other ninjas looked at each other before deciding that the plan was sound. "When do we act?"

"At night, of course. I think on the seventh day… After all these days of tranquillity, they will be calmer and more relaxed… They will be more likely to jump into the trap. We will use these days to slowly prepare the summonings. Make sure to do so on your guard strolls. Without being seen."

-Breakline-

"Good morning. Slept well, children?"

As a reply, all he got was a series of yawn and sighs. After all, children weren't supposed to wake up at 6 am. The tiredness from being woken up at that hour didn't spare anyone.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. So, before having breakfast, we'll do a little stroll in the surrounding forest. Let's say… An hour or so." Naruto groaned at Roshi's words.

"A stroll? Oh, come on… Why?" He said, yawns threatening to break his sentence every two syllables, more or less. Roshi chuckled.

"Remember what I said yesterday? Your guests will give you power and abilities, but it will up to you how to use them. That means that you still will have to train your own body and chakra." He said, walking in front of the children slowly, eyeing them one by one. "In the future you will discover your own attitudes and skills, some of you have already discovered them…" Saying this, he looked at Kirabi, Yugito and Utakata. "But staying fit is required of a human being, not only of a ninja. A daily morning run will do good to your resistance and heart and lung capacity. So, get moving, boys. Follow me."

Roshi started moving towards the wooden gate of the palisade surrounding their camp. Han was already outside. He would watch on their stroll along with the various ANBU. They had contacted them and agreed to help with their training. They had been notified of the track they would follow so to better guard it.

The young ones followed Roshi's pace. It was a steady one, but not tiring at all. They could follow it with relative ease. Of course, the one with the most problems in following it were the younger ones. From Fu to Yagura through Naruto and Gaara. But even them were keeping up.

"Alright. We'll change our pace." He said after five minutes that they were marching through the forest. They had arrived in front of a rather large clearing… No, it was more like a road made in the forest. With a good eye, one could easily notice that it had been created just recently. "I'll accelerate a bit and also…" Suddenly Roshi sped up… And started… Walking at Zig Zag on the road, passing behind the trees? "Follow me. Zig-Zag, Zig-Zag."

"Eh?" Naruto was the only one to voice his surprise, but he hurried to follow the rest of the group.

"Zigzag, Zigzag." Roshi kept on saying that while running around, chanting it like it was a magical spell. Yugito was blushing. She felt a bit ridiculous.

After twenty minutes of that, everyone in the group had at least deepened their breath. In the end they arrived upon a smaller, round clearing. In the middle of it, seven different stones were sitting, some bigger than the others.

"Now, for the second part of our stroll… Pick up these stones." The group was surprised again. Roshi pointed at them with one of his hands. "There's one for each of you. I wrote your name on it. Come on."

"… What's the sense of this?" Commented Yugito again, picking the one with her name on it. It was quite heavy, but not as much as that she couldn't hold it in her hands. The others felt the same while raising their own ones. The bigger one got picked up by Kirabi, the smaller one by Yagura, of course.

"Now, you have to go back to the camp while carrying those stones… But, moving like this." Roshi joined his legs and feet and crouched, crossing his arms behind his back… "Hop. Hop." Many jaws suddenly felt gravity calling to them. Roshi had started hopping forward, going back in the direction they had come from. Stopping and hopping on its place, he turned to them again. "Come on. If you don't go all the way back like this, you get no breakfast. And we will not sit down and eat till everyone is back at the camp."

"EHHHHHHHHH?" Guess who.

-Breakline-

Naruto had believed that the old man was out of his mind, because it sounded ridiculous… But now he was certain that he was out of his mind because he felt like his arms were about to come off. Hopping while carrying around that stone in his hands was downright a torture. If coming from the camp while doing zigzag through the trees had fatigued them and took around thirty minutes, he was fairly sure that they had been at that for almost an hour.

The first to distance himself from the group was Kirabi, being the oldest and physically strongest one of the group. He was then followed by Utakata and then Yugito, who despite not having the same muscular tone of the first two, was still older than them. They finally could see the gate, and the only ones left were him and Gaara, who were 'hopping' side by side. Fu was in front of them, and Yagura behind.

"Anf… Come… On…" Naruto grunted, focusing on the relatively small distance in front of them compared to what they had done and trying to ignore the ache in his muscles. _That man… Is… A sappist… Or something…_

"Nnngh…" Fu really felt the need to drop unconscious right there… But every time she felt like stopping, her favourite book came to her mind. The gutsy ninja would not give up, so she would neither. And the sight of the gates a 50 meters in front of her gave her the spurt she needed. She hurried up her hopping movement, and in another few seconds, she was behind the gates, inside the camp. She finally could let the stone fall to the ground and fall beside it, her whole body finally free to ache. "Anf… Anf… D-Done…"

"Well done, Fu. Good job. Now lay down there for as long as you like." Roshi said, eyeing the very tired figure of the girl and the still recovering figures of Yugito and Utakata. Kirabi had returned to a normal heartbeat rate and breathing speed few minutes after stopping. _As I figured… He has the most resistance out of them. Now, three more to go…_ He turned in the direction of the three remaining boys.

"Anf… I'm hungry… And… Tired…" Naruto gritted his teeth, hearing Gaara's words. He shared his thoughts, but he so was not going to show it.

"Don't… Worry. We're almost done… Focus… On jumping…" Suddenly, a rather loud 'Thud' coming from behind them got the attention of the two Jinchuuriki. They stopped and turned around to find a heavily sweating and panting Yagura a few meters behind them, collapsed on the ground, over his stone. "Hey… You okay?"

Roshi eyed the scene with calmness. _I foresaw that it could happen. After all, he's only four… Oh, well._ "Yagura, you can… Uh?"

"Naruto… What are you doing?"

"You heard him! If we don't all go back, we can't eat breakfast!" Naruto's sudden action got the attention of everyone in line of sight, including the still recovering jinchuuriki behind the gates. The blonde had went back to Yagura and put his stone to the ground. Then, he picked up the younger child and put him on his back, making him join his hands around his neck and locking the silver-haired child's legs around his body with his own arms. Then, he kneeled down… And tried to lift both of their rocks. Emphasis on tried. He was struggling to get them up. "Nnngh… Hold… Tight…"

Yagura was still panting heavily, but he had at least managed to understand what was happening, observing Naruto's twitching arms.

Roshi was the most shocked of everyone there. It had really surprised him, the boy's action. But most of all… "Naruto… You know that this is against the rules…"

"S-Shut up! He's exhausted, old man! I'll just…" He struggled… And the rocks started to come off from the ground. "Aaaaaaargh! I'll… Just… Hop there… With him on my shoulders…" He basically screamed while he finally managed to raise the two rocks. "So… He will… Hop too."

Roshi was amazed by the feat, probably because it was the result of sheer willpower. Physically, he knew that the boy shouldn't have ever been able to do something like that. And the livid colour of his arms told him he was right. "… Run here."

"E-Eh?" Naruto said, not really listening to the man because of the amount of pain he was currently feeling in his arms.

"Run all the way here. And hurry. You just got one try. Otherwise, you'll really have to hop till here." Naruto stared at Roshi for a few seconds… And then the wincing pain from his arms brought him back to the world of living. With a shout, he started running forward, trying to cover all the 50 meters left in one try. Instinctively, the other Jinchuurikis behind the gates moved away, because they could see that he was already falling forward. He began to fall down right in front of the 'goal'.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" He fell but he managed to fell inside the camp. The very instant he crossed the line of the gates he let the rocks fall down, cue to him tripping and flying forward, basically, landing harshly on his face.

Everyone stared, surprised by the feat that Naruto had just accomplished, even if they could feel his really heavy pants. But Roshi was even more surprised than anyone around. Han shared his thoughts from the trees.

_That boy… Just what level of stamina does he possess?_ Was the shared thought. Roshi's training was hard enough, but what he had just done was supposed to have spent him, he should have been wheezing, gasping for air… But he was just really fatiguated. Roshi had the suspect that the reason Naruto couldn't get up from his face down position wasn't because of the lack of energy, but because of the pain in his muscles.

"H-Hey! Are you okay?" Fu approached Naruto and gently shook him. Naruto panted a little more.

"I-I'm okay… I just hurt a lot… In my arms… And legs…" He said, while Utakata helped Yagura get off his back, easing his breathing. Naruto managed to turn to his left side to look at the small child, who was staring at him.

"… Thank you, Naruto-san." Utakata was visibly surprised by that. Yagura usually didn't bother to speak more than one or two words, and people's names… He barely used them. Naruto just grinned.

"Eh… You're welcolme." In the meanwhile, Kirabi was taking notes. Seemed like he had managed to get some ideas about new rhymes.

"… Alright, alright." Roshi then turned to the last remaining Jinchuuriki, who had stopped and had just been staring all the time. "Gaara, start hopping, or we'll never get breakfast."

"A-Ah! Yes!" That broke him out of his reverie. Roshi snorted while the red-haired child started hopping as fast as he could, while he thought of a little idea that had come to his mind by watching Naruto. Why not make them do all that while carrying something on their backs? He just had to find a suitable object…

-Breakline-

After Gaara had finished as well, they all sat down at the table in the middle of the camp, and like Roshi had foresaw, his one and Han's one were the only sets of jaws that ate normally. All the younger ones were eating like there was no tomorrow. Gaara and Naruto risked a couple of times of suffocating.

"Just to warn you, we will be doing the same thing every morning, but it will also be the only physical training you will be doing here. And after finishing eating breakfast, we'll go to the nearby stream to catch some fishes. You will always have to catch your own lunch's main dish."

No one heard him, it seemed. Or they just registered the information while not bothering to reply. Their mouths had to be used for just one thing, in that moment. Roshi chuckled.

-Breakline-

"Here's the stream, kids. Let's…"

"BOOOOOMB!" Naruto and Kirabi were the first ones to throw themselves into the water, but they were followed later by the others, even if in a more slow manner. They were eager to get refreshed and clean from all the sweat they had build up in the morning, it seemed. Roshi smiled at their antics, but that had been his intention all along. They would relax a little before getting to some fishing.

The last one to get into the water was Gaara. Seemed like he didn't like water much. But Naruto had pulled him by his left arm into the water… The thing quickly degenerated into a splash-off between the two. They were later joined by Kirabi, and Yagura and Utakata too, it seemed. And the black-haired Jinchuuriki was damn good at it, it seemed.

The girls had soaked for a bit and then got out of the water. Yugito had opted for some dozing off in the sun, emitting some noise of satisfaction once in a while. Fu joined her but not without her book.

"Man, how the hell did you do it? I drank more water than what I ever spit!" Utakata replied to Kirabi's question with a satisfied smile, leaving him in doubt.

"… Fishes." Suddenly said Yagura, pointing at a couple swimming around Naruto's feet.

"Oh, right! We're supposed to catch them for lunch, right?" Naruto suddenly realized, remembering what had been told to them during their breakfast. He suddenly dove for them, but they quickly got out of the way. He pouted, while Gaara shielded himself from more water. "Ack! They got away!"

"You're never gonna catch them like that." Suddenly said Utakata, shaking his head to get some water out of his hair. Everyone turned to him, listening. "In Kiri, we do it like this… Who has a good aim?"

"Yugito's the name, aim's her game!" Kirabi commented while pointing at the girl, who emitted a loud growl. She just didn't like being used in one of the idiot's rhymes. She raised her head.

"What do I have to do?" She asked.

"Ask Roshi-san some kunais. We will scare these fishes so that they jump out of the water. You will have to hit them with your weapons and pin them to the tree on the other side of the river. Think you can do that?" Yugito listened and thought about it for a few seconds before nodding. She walked to the old Jinchuuriki who had already a weapon pouch out, on his left hand.

"How are we going to… Scare them?" Asked Gaara, curious about the intimidation methods they were going to use.

"First, we got to surround them. Then we dive underwater and follow them till we sort of trap them, so that they can do nothing else but try to jump over us…" He said… Then he smiled. "That, or we can jump into the water all together and raise a lot of water and the fishes along with it. What do you say?"

Naruto and Kirabi grinned to each other. Yagura got out of the river. It was going to get messy. In the following hour, they managed to catch enough fish for their lunch. All the while Fu read while moving around on her towel to dodge falling water.

'_Naruto dove under the enemy's attack, and unsheathing his hidden weapon, he…' Uh?_ Something suddenly came to her mind. _Naruto… Naruto… I feel like I've heard the gutsy ninja's name somewhere else than in the book… Nah, I'm probably imagining it._ Too bad for her short attention span.

-Breakline-

"Alright… So, I think it's safe to finally begin the real… Lessons." Roshi was sitting cross-legged in front of the pond, the children facing him sitting in similar positions. He had made another one of those hand-made cigars and was smoking it. Naruto had finally noticed that he didn't light it the right way… As in, he didn't use lighters or anything. He just put it in his mouth. "As in… How to draw upon your guests' chakra."

"That's what I wanted to know!" Naruto said. His outburst was met with just silence, since it was probably something everyone wanted to know about.

"Now, first thing you must understand, that it's not something easy, or even willing, the first time. That's because of the nature of the technique that put the demon into your body." Roshi said, before pointing at his face, and more specifically, at the tattoo stretching from cheek to cheek over his nose. "You probably all have something like this somewhere on your body, right? Some kind of tattoo…"

"Yep. Right over here." Kirabi pointed at his face. Naruto blinked, not understanding what he was pointing at… Before focusing. He then noticed that there was indeed something on the black haired kid's face. It was like a… A black drawing of a couple of horns, one above the other.

He then looked at the others. They were all exposing something similar, it seemed. Yagura and Utakata turned around and raised their hair at the back of their necks. They had the same tattoo, it seemed. It was a little fractal circle, crossed inside by three other fractal lines, that met each other at the centre of the circle.

Yugito exposed her right forearm. In her case, there was a small mark as well, like Kirabi's. This one, though, was in the shape of three vertical straight lines. It reminded Naruto of a scratch.

Finally, Fu. In her case… She was sitting to Naruto's immediate right, and she seemed to have some problems with her shirt. She was trying to raise it, but she seemed to not be able to raise it enough. She suddenly stopped and turned to him. "Ehm… Can you help me? It's on my back."

"Ah, ok." Naruto turned and complied, raising her shirt till the drawing got shown. It was a series of squares, put one inside the other. The tattoo covered all the space between her two shoulder blades.

"Hmmm… What about you, Naruto?" The blonde blinked and turned around… And then remembered of not having nothing of the sort anywhere on his body. "Hmmm, I see. I've heard that the Yondaime was a seal master… So, your seal probably only shows when you're using chakra."

"And… What about me?" Gaara said, breaking Naruto's thoughts about what a seal is before they even started. The boy seemed a little uneasy. "I… I don't have a tattoo either."

"That's because there's quite a difference between your situation and ours. While we have been subject to a technique of 'sealing', as in, it keeps our demons in check…" Roshi took a deep breath of smoke. He did it to focus, most of the times. "You got subject to a technique of possession. You know that, right?"

"… Yes." Gaara slowly lowered his head, and Roshi noticed the look of confusion on some of the young ones' faces.

"A technique of sealing basically puts the demons in a prison inside of a container. In case it's a living human, a jinchuuriki, it means that it's up to that individual the choice of how much, when, and how use the demon's chakra, to a certain extent." Han had suddenly appeared beside Roshi, landing beside him in a kneeling position. "A technique of possession, instead… It basically makes the demon ever-present. The two struggle every hour of the day for control over the body of the Jinchuuriki."

"… Yes… I keep on hearing a voice… Even now…" Gaara said, clutching his teddy closer to himself. "It says… To do bad things again… Like I do unconsciously… It never lets me sleep peacefully…"

"… I knew that the Sand Village was desperate for increasing his military power, but I believed it would have developed better sealing technique over the years." Han said shaking his head.

"Suna is not known for having a story of sealing techniques. They just don't care." Roshi said, his cigar finally ending. He put it out on the ground with one of his feet. Naruto didn't hear the last part because his gaze was fixed on Gaara because of his last words. "Returning to the main part of the speech, those 'tattoos' basically symbolize your situation, among other things."

"What kind… Of other things?" Asked Fu, suddenly curious.

"Let's say that… The demons' presence can influence your physique… And your behaviour, making them akin to their ones. They all have shapes of animals, after all. The most blatant example is Naruto, over here." Naruto blinked, and pointed at himself with his right index finger. Roshi nodded. "Those 'slashes' on both your cheeks. Don't they remind you of a fox's whiskers?"

Naruto brought his hands to his face, touching his cheeks in thought. He always believed they were strange birthmarks, but…

"Or, Yugito. Your habit of dozing off in the sun… Very cat-like." The girl blushed and turned her head to the side, frowning a bit. "Now, as I said, while there are few ways to use the chakra, there are just two ways in which to draw upon it. Willingly… Or going berserk." More confusion. The word was probably foreign to most of the young ones. "The second one is most often the way in which you would have used it the first time. Basically, if you start experiencing strong emotions that put you in 'resonance' with your demon… You go through the mini-beast transformation, that progresses with time."

"… Would have?" This time it was the usually silent Yagura to ask that question. Roshi nodded.

"Yes, would have. Because what we will be doing during this camp is trying to get you to start with the willing use before the berserk use."

"… How?" Asked Yugito. Roshi smiled and let Han reply.

"We will make you visit your demons."

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

After a few days of relative peace, all goes to hell in one night. Gaara gets targeted, and Naruto and the others get dragged into it. Can they stop him? Stay tuned.

**Note:**

For story's sake and character's interation, some of the Jinchuuriki's ages have been altered. Here's the spectrum…

Naruto: 6  
Gaara: 6  
Yugito: 10  
Kirabi: 12  
Roshi: 56  
Han (5-Tails): 26  
Yagura (3-Tails): 4  
Utakata (6-Tails): 9  
Fu (7-Tails): 7


	2. Childhood II

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… Otherwise I would have made this happen.

**Leadership**

**Book I, Chapter II: Bonds**

"M-Meet our demons?" Roshi nodded as a reply to Naruto's stuttering question. And then started to think about how to explain everything he needed to explain with words that the children could understand.

"Basically, there's a… Peculiarity with having a seal. You see, there are techniques that let the user peer into someone's else mind." He got up from his sitting position and patted away a bit of dust from his pants. "Usually, they see it like a place. The aspect of the place depends from the person's personality and memories. They can peer around for those… But, let's say that in your mind a seal is a private room for your demon."

"Ohhh…" The blonde Jinchuuriki took everything in and more or less understood what he was said, apart what 'private' meant.

"Now, you usually don't visualize your mind at will. And even Jinchuuriki just witness it when strong emotions bring them to… Align with their demons' personality. Only after they can learn to go 'there at will'. But…" Roshi moved his gaze over the children, sparing a few seconds each while he kept on talking. "Over the years, I've developed a technique to force this visit. I'm the only one able to use it. So, basically, the next week will be devoted to making you meet your demons. One Jinchuuriki for day. So, who wants to go first?"

Naruto swallowed. Meeting his demon… At first he thought it sounded cool, but the Kyuubi was the demon who had almost destroyed Konoha, right? So… He suddenly wasn't very eager to do it anymore.

Surprisingly, the tiniest hand in the group was the one that went up in the air. Everyone turned to Yagura, who had just volunteered himself to be the first to be the 'subject' of that day. Roshi nodded in acknowledgment.

"Good. Then, stand in front of me, your back facing my body. Close your eyes and stay still." Yagura nodded and did as told, getting up from his sitting position on the ground and standing in front of Roshi. Once the young boy stood perfectly still, the older Jinchuuriki went through a series of hand-seals and then gently placed both of his hands on both of Yagura's temples.

-Breakline-

When Yagura re-opened his eyes, he was still in the same position as before, but everything around him had changed. First of all, he was sure he was standing on solid ground in the middle of a palisaded encampment in the middle of a forest. Now he was standing on top of water when he didn't know how to do that yet in the middle of an enormous lake surrounded by mountains and luscious forests growing on the shores just behind the sand.

"Hmmm, seems like you have a quite pretty mindscape, kid. Good for you." Yagura slowly turned his head around, finding the figure of Roshi standing behind him like it was before. The man walked beside him and kept on observing everything around. "You wouldn't like to see just how fucked up certain mindscapes are. Like that of the latest Mizukage."

Yagura listened to the Iwa nin's words and then returned his attention to the lake. Or better, to the water's surface. It was moving and getting filled with big circular ripples. He then noticed that there was a big shadow becoming bigger and bigger by the second.

"Hmm… Here it comes." Roshi commented, just as the shadow became more than a shadow and began gaining colors, as the Sanbi surface from beneath its resting place, raising an enormous tidal wave that splashed both Roshi and Yagura heavily, but without wetting them, strangely.

Yagura stared at the enormous eyes of the beast, and surprisingly, the demon was staring back at him with the exact same stare. It looked void of every emotion and intent if not that of observing, waiting for something to happen or for the object of its interest to do something.

"Well, it looks like the rumours were true. You're in luck, kid." Yagura turned to Roshi with a questioning gaze. "You see, Kiri isn't anything special when it comes to sealing techniques, and until a few decades ago, they were right-out bad. But then an incident happened that forced them to study a little in that area." The little silver haired kid kept on listening to the older jinchuuriki. "You see, a try on sealing the Sanbi went to hell. Not only they couldn't manage to seal it, but the supposed host died and the beast went wild in the process. On top of that, it had been damaged, losing its human intelligence."

Yagura suddenly turned his head again to the enormous turtle, while Roshi nodded in acknowledgment to his reasoning.

"You're very, very lucky, kid. Basically, you've gotten yourself an enormous, incredibly powerful pet."

-Breakline-

"Hmmm… That went very well, I must say." In the 'real world', just a few seconds had passed between the time Roshi placed his hands on Yagura's temples and when he removed them again with a satisfied smile. Naruto blinked.

"Already over?" He asked. As a response, Yagura hurried back to Rokuro's side while Roshi took out another bit of tobacco to make a cigar out of and started walk away.

"For today it's all. For the rest of the day, you're free to do everything you want. Just don't hurt yourself and don't get out of the encampment." The red-haired Jinchuuriki walked away before Naruto had a chance of asking him what he wanted to ask. As in…

"… Alright. And exactly what are we supposed to do?" He turned around to the others… Only to sweatdrop as almost everyone had disappeared. He could still see the retreating form of the 'Kiri duo' as he would later in the years call them. "… Right. Leave me alone."

"Ehm… I'm still here." Naruto blinked when Gaara's weak voice suddenly called at him from the ground. The wind country citizen was still sitting on the ground. Just after calling to him he got back on his feet. The blonde rewarded him with one of his grins.

"Eh, thanks. But… What are we supposed to do, now? I have no idea." Naruto scratched the tip of his nose a bit… Then grinned. "Hey! Maybe we could train a little? We're going to get into the academy soon, right?"

"Ehm…" Gaara cringed at the word 'train'. "I… Still feel pain from this morning's thing, sorry…"

"Ah, you mean the rock things?" _Now that I think about it…_ Naruto tentatively went to touch a part of his legs that still felt sore from that morning… And howled out in pain right after. "OWOWOWOWOWOWOW! ME TOOOO!"

Gaara thought that this was a bit strange, though. He felt pain just by moving. Naruto felt pain only if he touched the sore spot already?

"Oww… Then, what are we supposed to do? I'm bored…" Naruto pouted cutely…

"Have no fear, 'cause I'm here!" Before his bones threatened to jump out of his body ripping through flesh and skin because of the sudden surprise cause from Kirabi's loud voice booming from behind him.

"A-ARE YOU CRAZY?" Naruto was almost cyanotic, all air having left his lungs in a single instant.

"Are you bored or not? I'm here to revive riot!" Naruto had half an idea of pointing out to him that his talking in rhymes was starting to become annoying… But he seemed to have an idea to break the boredom. So he decided to shut up. "You two young chicks are lucky, for I've decided to take you under my wing and teach you one of the finest arts in the world!"

Now that got both Naruto's and Gaara's attention. What did he want to teach them?

"I'm going to give you baptism in the fine art of rapping!" He suddenly said, earning a simple reply from Naruto.

"… Wha?"

-Breakline-

"So… How is Naruto doing?" Sarutobi was debriefing a pair of Anbu who had just ended their turn on a particular assignment that he held particularly to heart, as in, the surveillance of 'camp Jinchuuriki', as one of his younger employers would probably mock-call it.

"He's doing well, Hokage-sama." The first Anbu replied, before submitting to the Hokage some pictures they had taken, showing the inside of Naruto's 'bunk' and him engaging in 'bonding activities' with his peers, alas, playing tag with Gaara. "He's been put together with the son of the Kazekage and the youngest of the Jinchuuriki from Kiri. He seems to be getting along easily with everyone, but especially with the former, Hokage-sama."

"… I understand." The Hokage picked up a picture where Naruto had been tackled to the ground by Gaara, losing that round of tag. But nonetheless he seemed to be enjoying himself a lot, judging from his smile. He raised his head again. "What about the… Eldest Jinchuuriki?" The Tsuchikage's agreement had made the Hokage very suspicious. Especially considering Naruto's and the woman's relationships with a certain person.

"They have not been trying anything, Hokage-sama. They've obviously been slightly interested in the boy, but they have not tried nor planned anything. They're pretty much holding their 'end of the deal'." The other Anbu said. The Hokage thought about it for a while before nodding.

"I understand. Good work. Before turning in, contact your colleagues and ask them to still keep an eye open for them." The two Anbu nodded and then disappeared in small cloud of smokes, leaving the Hokage alone in his office again.

"… Seems like I made the right choice…" The fire shadow said, observing the various pictures of a smiling Naruto laid out on his table. He seemed to be really enjoying himself… Maybe for the first time in his life. … _And yet… I can't get rid of this feeling of uneasiness…_

-Breakline-

"Hmmm…" Naruto had went through a routine in those last few days, like everyone in their group. Morning, they would wake up early and go through the hellish training of rock-carrying. And it seemed like the rocks got a little heavier each day. He didn't know how it was possible, but it seemed like that.

After that, they would eat breakfast and then spend the morning by the river, playing and catching their lunch. In the afternoon, those few seconds of 'bijuu-meeting' counseling and then, free day. The first day they had been 'initiated' to rapping… Naruto and Gaara ran away after the first ten minutes. He didn't know how to explain it, but the child was feeling stupider and stupider with each rhyme he created.

He and Gaara had resolved to do something on their own. The Kazekage's son had been under the care of personal teachers ever since he was a toddler, so, their afternoons had mostly comprised of Gaara sharing a bit of his knowledge with Naruto. That's what they were doing at the moment. The redhead had just finished explaining to the blonde the concept of logic: 'the ability to discern something from something else'. "… I don't get it." Here's the answer of the Konoha Jinchuuriki. Gaara lowered his head, a bit embarrassed.

"Ehm… Maybe, I should make an example." Gaara said, and then began to think about how to explain it… He suddenly nodded to himself. "Yes, like… Well, let's make that you have an aquarium."

"Alright." Naruto nodded and crossed his arms, his attention fully on Gaara.

"You have an aquarium because it reminds you of the sea, that you like. You like the sea because you like the beach. And you like the beach because there are girls on it. So, you have the aquarium because you like girls." Naruto's mouth opened in a 'ohhhhh' of understanding.

"Now I get it!" Not really, mostly because even Gaara's explanation was a bit flawed and general, but, hey, they're kids. But to make matters worse, using logic, Naruto was already putting in relationship what he had just learned with other things he had heard older people say.

"Hey, dinner's ready." The two turned towards the door of their barrack, which had opened to reveal Roshi. Naruto suddenly had an insatiable urge to ask something.

"Hey, jii-san! Do you have an aquarium?" He asked. Roshi blinked, wondering what exactly possessed the young Jinchuuriki to ask that question. He shook his head. Naruto gasped. "THEN YOU'RE A HOMO!"

Gaara blushed, embarrassed like hell, while Roshi just stared at Naruto while his cigar threatened to fall from his mouth. He regained enough composure to closed the door slowly behind him. Naruto turned to Gaara and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever a homo is. I just know that it's someone who doesn't like girls." Gaara laughed a bit at Naruto's antics. Little did Gaara know that the 'explanation' he had repeated hearing from his uncle was a joke, on logic. "But, hey. That was pretty neat as something to know. Who taught you that?"

"My uncle… He has been the one taking care of me ever since I was born." Gaara replied, smiling a little. "He's probably… The only one who loves me."

"… The only one?" Naruto could see the sadness in Gaara as he nodded. He was about to ask about the rest of his family, but he decided against it. "… Going to dinner?" Gaara nodded. In the meanwhile, Roshi had reached Han at the table outside…

"What the hell did you tell those kids?"

"Uh?"

-Breakline-

"Hey, Gaara…"

"Yes?"

It was night-time. They had finished eating dinner a long time ago and had retreated inside their barrack alongside Yagura, and they had gotten into their own bed a long time ago. But they couldn't sleep much. Because of something. It was the end of the seventh day. That day Gaara had met his demon. And Naruto was the only one left that had to do so.

"… How was… You know… Today?" Naruto could almost feel Gaara tense up at just mentioning what had happened that afternoon. That made him tense up even more. "You know… Meeting your demon."

"… It was scary." Gaara clutched onto his teddy a bit more tightly, remembering just what had seen. "I… My mind was like a big desert… But still, it was fresh. I didn't feel cold at all, and there were a few clouds in the sky. It was kinda pretty… B-But then…" He started trembling a little. "Then, we arrived at a spot in the desert that was drenched with blood. The clouds turned red too, and the sand started to gather… Roshi-san said that we had to get out of there, because the seal wouldn't protect us from my demon. Before we got out… I… Saw his eyes…"

"Alright, alright! Sorry!" Naruto was starting to feel miserable for asking if just remembering it caused that kind of reaction… But at the same time it made him feel even more nervous about his own situation. Was the Kyuubi going to be as scary as Gaara's demon? "… Damn. You know what? I wish I knew why… I mean, being a Jinchuuriki sucks."

"… Me… It's because they want me to become a strong ninja… I-I don't know about you, though, Naruto…" Gaara replied truthfully. "Usually they make Jinchuuriki because Jinchuuriki almost always become strong ninjas… But it's not your case, right?"

"Nope." Naruto frowned a little at that. If they trained him to be an awesome ninja would have made the thing of him being hated a bit better, at the very least. Little did they know that the exact word was 'weapon'. Ninjas were weapons, but Jinchuuriki were even more 'weapon' than that. "Hmmm… Oh, well. Let's just get some sleep. Goodnight, Gaara."

"Goodnight, Naruto." Gaara said, making himself more comfortable in his bed, snuggling slightly against his teddy.

"… Goodnight." The third voice suddenly coming alive surprised both Gaara and Naruto. Yagura wasn't asleep yet, it seemed. That meant that he had listened to their conversation. Naruto shrugged it off after a few seconds, but he really would have liked to know Yagura's opinion about the matter.

-Breakline-

"Is everything ready?" Asked the man. The suna Anbu nodded.

"Yes. We made sure that the release of chakra will be so huge that they will never be able to detect yours in any case." The man nodded, covering his face with the usual cloth.

"I will stay hidden till they get away from the encampment, though." While saying this, the other suna Anbu arrived as well. "Are you both ready?" They both nodded. "Then… Commence."

The man disappeared in a cloud of smoke while the two Anbu went through the same series of handseals, and then silently whispered… "Kai."

-Breakline-

Roshi's eyes shot out in an instant the second he felt something become different. He sat on his bed and noticed Han was already awake as well. "Han…"

"I know. Four of them." The enormous Jinchuuriki immediately went for his clothes and battle armour, while Roshi put on his sandals and immediately ran outside of the barrack, finding the various Anbu already in the middle of the encampment.

"What happened?" He asked, eyeing the shapes of the various duos of special ninjas. Two from Suna, two from Kiri, two from Konoha, two from Taki.

"Four summons. High level ones." Roshi frowned. That could be a real problem. Han had joined them outside of the barrack in a few seconds.

"Han and eye will take one each. You other, split in two teams of four. Four stay here, four go after the two remaining summons." Before the Anbu had any chances to talk, the two containers had already disappeared, each one in the direction of one of the summonings. Their chakra flaring, so that the special ninjas could understand which ones to attack.

The two ninjas of the leaf made a sign to the ones of the waterfall, who nodded in reply. The four of them disappeared in clouds of smoke, leaving the two of Kiri and the two of Suna, who looked at each other for a few seconds, to be certain that the other ninjas had disappeared… Till another person appeared in the middle of the clearing.

"You can go." The two Anbu from Kiri gave the man a warning glance, even if their masks covered their faces and so, their eyes. "Do not worry. Your Jinchuuriki will not be harmed."

"You better not. Or Suna will be in trouble." The four Anbu disappeared. They would make sure the other Jinchuuriki stayed asleep with a genjutsu and create battle damage around the perimeter of the encampment. He stayed still and silent for a couple minutes, to be certain that no one was near his position anymore.

The man sneered. Suna would be in trouble? For what? They would go and tell them that Suna had planned an attack on his own Jinchuuriki in such a delicate situation planning an international incident? It would be so crazy that no one would believe it. It said much about the Kazekage's current mental state.

As for he? While he approached the barrack where his target was, he thought about the reasons that had made him accept that mission in the first place. His personal hate for the Jinchuuriki. He opened the door slowly and silently. Perfect. For once, the Jinchuuriki wasn't awake nor was he trashing in his sleep. Everything in the room was perfectly silent.

He picked out a kunai and approached the first bed, trying to find a mop of red hair… He blinked when he found none. Not a different colour of hair, but no hair at all, not even sticking from under the covers… He grabbed the covers and pulled them off. Clothes.

"… How?" He hurried to the other two beds. Same story. More clothes in the place of who should be slipping inside them. The ninja silently cursed. "How did they notice?" He then began to search around the room… And he noticed an open window.

-Breakline-

"W-We shouldn't get so far…"

"The more far away from that guy the better." Naruto said, while carrying Yagura on his back. The youngest Jinchuuriki couldn't run very fast because of his age, and as such, he had taken him upon himself of carrying him around.

He didn't know exactly what had happened. The only thing he knew was that Yagura had awoken them and showed them that single ninja standing in the middle of the encampment, telling them that they were alone, and that they had to run away. They had gotten out of the back window of the barrack and then got out of the encampment via some kind of hidden underground passageway that had brought them out, in the forest. How had Yagura managed to find out was a mystery to him.

"W-Who do you think…" Gaara asked, grasping tightly at his teddy. Naruto shook his head fiercely.

"I don't know who that guy could be… Or why he was coming to us. But it was nothing good, I tell you… Ah!" Naruto had let himself gasp when he heard a loud shuffling noise coming from afar. The same noise they had made when they had opened hard the cover of the exit of the underground tunnel. "He found it…"

"W-What do we do?" Gaara said, panicking a little. Naruto swallowed, and Yagura was starting to get nervous as well.

"… We have to hide." The Kiri Jinchuuriki said. Naruto thought about it for a few seconds… And then nodded.

"Y-Yes. We have to hide. We can't outrun a ninja, right?" The two immediately started searching for some place to hide… Gaara suddenly stopped Naruto by placing a hand on his shoulder, pointing at a rather large bush or roves. "R-Roves? But they hurt…"

"That's why he will not think that three kids hid in there." Gaara replied. To Naruto made sense… He swallowed and approached the bush, moving away the bushes barehanded, wincing in pain while he opened it for Gaara and Yagura to enter before him. The redhead then let the bush open for Naruto to enter behind them. "Now, be silent and don't move. Breath normally."

Naruto nodded and fell completely silent. Yagura hadn't been much of a talker to begin with. They swallowed and turned to the clearing. Naruto thought about complimenting Gaara on knowing how to hide well later. Now they had to be silent… Especially when they saw the ninja appear in their field of vision. The three children's hearts skipped a bit.

The ninja had his face almost completely covered, just his eyes poking out of that cloth he was wearing, and was looking around with a calm and slowness that seemed almost unreal, mechanical. But what really worried Naruto were the kunais that he was carrying around… Not really carrying around, since they were floating directly in front and beside him, like invisible hands were holding them up. They flinched when he turned in their direction and started to walk towards them.

The kids had to control themselves, for even breathing heavily could give them away, judging from how heavy the silence that reigned in that forest was. The ninja took step by step and and their heart-beats became faster and faster… Till he stopped. They sighed in relief… But just briefly, as a kunai went trough their bush at high speed and implanted themselves on the ground just behind them. Naruto and Gaara covered their mouths to avoid letting out a single sound, and it would have been easy, scared as the were.

The ninja stared silently at the bush for a few seconds… And then began to walk away, in the opposite direction from their hiding place. Gaara, Naruto and Yagura stared at the direction for a few seconds, then for a couple minutes before they were certain that he was indeed one. They let out the breath they had been holding in.

"T-That was scary… AHHHHHHH!" Gaara screamed in fear and pain as a kunai suddenly planted itself into his right biceps, earning a horrified gasp from Naruto and Yagura.

"G-Gaara!" Before they could react, an arm shot into the bush and grabbed the redhead by his clothes. Gaara looked up in fright at the ninja who was now holding him above the ground, and then saw his eyes… They were the same. The same lots of people used to look at him with back in his village.

"Hiding in uncomfortable places, holding your breath… You've been taught well." _I should know… I'm the one who taught you._ The attacker moved his other hand strangely, and all his other kunai suddenly floated straight above his head, and then lowered themselves to point at Gaara, who was trembling in fear, right now. Then he shook his head and closed his eyes. He was trying to focus. "It's useless. There's no sand here for you to use… At least not on the ground." Gaara's eyes shot open again, tears gathering in his eyes. He was scared out of his mind. "It's time to die."

"Noooooooooo!" Suddenly, something happened that startled the ninja. Naruto jumping out of the bush and grabbing onto his left leg, mainly. The ninja cursed under his breath before trying to shake him off. Seeing that it didn't work, he suddenly turned around and kicked the air. The strength was enough to make Naruto lose his grip on the leg and send him flying a few meters. "Aaah!" The blonde ended up against the trunk of a nearby tree.

"… A nuisance. Now… AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Now it was the ninja's turn to scream. Mainly because he had forgotten about the third bunkmate, who had managed to get a hold of the kunai he had launched earlier and stab him in the right knee with it. The sudden shock made him lose the grip on Gaara, who fell to the ground and began to run away in Naruto's direction, with Yagura holding his teddy in tow. The ninja gritted his teeth and got the kunai out of his knee, and started applying some chakra to heal the wound. _Damn. I've been careless._

He then turned around and saw his target and the child from Kiri helping Naruto back on his feet. The blonde recovered enough bearing to get back on the ground just as he healed enough of his wound for the injury to not impede his movement. _It will still hurt like a bitch, though… Damn that kid from kiri._ He used his strange technique again and sent more kunai flying right in front of the trio, stopping their running and forcing them to change direction. He ran towards them. "It's useless!"

"Ahhhh…" Naruto was scared. Scared out of his mind. He had never found himself in such a situation. Someone wanted him dead… No, the man wanted one of his friends dead, but he was willing to hurt him too in the process. He was sweating and tears were gathering in his eyes, the pain from him hitting the tree still fresh.

"This is the end!" The ninja sent another volley of kunai in their direction, and the three shared the same fear and Gaara and Naruto let out a cry… Only to be surprised when more kunai came out from their right to intercept the one being hurled at them. The most surprised one was the assassin. Wasn't his plan perfect? Wasn't he supposed to have taken care of every single possible threat? "Who's there?"

"You lavishious fiend! Seems like assassination is this week's trend, ahh?" The three youngsters immediately recognized the voice, and when the person came out of the bush their guess was confirmed. They still had to understand why he talked funny or why he kept sunglasses even when it was nighttime, but it was nice to have someone helping them. "Sorry, but it's already oooooooooold fashioned!"

The man cursed. Those idiots had probably used too much of a weak genjutsu, or had probably forgot that one of the Jinchuuriki was basically a genin. It wasn't impossible that he knew how to dispel them. Especially since it was the Raikage's younger brother. "You…"

"Call me Kirabi! It will be the last name you'll hear!" The black skinned youth said, dropping into a fighting stance… Then suddenly remembering something and crossing his arms over his chest. "Or maybe not."

"WHAT?" Naruto was the source of this latest outburst, even if Gaara had had a big temptation of joining him. Was he going to save them or not? Kirabi turned to them with a frown on his face.

"Why should I help two defective students?" He said. Naruto was about to yell 'what the hell are you talking about' when he suddenly remembered that he and Gaara had ran away from the rap lessons. He swallowed… And then suddenly prostrated himself at his feet.

"P-Please help us! I swear I will sit through the whole lesson, next time! Please… Kirabi-sama?" He said, unsure himself of what he was saying. Kirabi gave a 'Hmmm' of thought and shifted his gaze to Gaara, who shivered and then mimicked Naruto, but just let out a 'Please!'. The boy then moved to Yagura. The Kiri Jinchuuriki just stared back. 'What the hell do I have to do with this?'. Kirabi stared back fiercely. Yagura surrendered and bowed as well. The Kumo Jinchuuriki grinned and turned to the ninja again.

"Ah! I guess I really can't help it! You guys are all like 'help me'!" Naruto already regretted it a little… But then blinked when he saw Kirabi pick out a scroll out of his weapon pouch. The ninja was taking advantage of those seconds of pause to heal a little more the gash in his knee. The hit had damaged a ligament and the bones, but he kept his eyes on his target and the interferences.

The genin had opened the scroll and threw it high in the air. A big cloud of smoke got out of it, along with four objects. Kirabi smoothly grabbed all four of them, two with his hands, one with his right leg, and the last… With his mouth? Both the children and the ninja stared in surprise at the now armed Jinchuuriki. He had got out of the scroll four swords, all identical, with cutting edges on both sides. While Naruto had never seen anyone holding a sword, the ninja had never seen anyone holding four swords at the same time.

"I will beat you into the ground so hard that you'll forget you had teeth to begin with, idiot!" Kirabi said. The sentence didn't make much sense to the ninja, and he also was asking himself how stupid he looked. How could someone move like that? Then, suddenly, Kirabi moved.

The black skinned boy used his free leg to jump forward and then used his other leg to rotated and jumped further forward, surprising the ninja a great deal.

"What?" The ninja grabbed a kunai out of air and blocked Kirabi's slash at his stomach. The kid used the momentum to flip himself up and used his leg too to jump high in the air, and then began to rotated while descending to the ground again. The assassin jumped back to dodge, and while Kirabi got back in a standing position he threw his kunai at him. Kirabi rotated on himself and deflected them… "Tsk…"

"Not over yet!" Indeed. Kirabi didn't stop rotating on himself after deflecting the kunai, and jumped towards the assassin again, who grabbed two Kunai out of the air and parried the first two blows… But more came. Kirabi kept on rotating, jumping, shifting his weight. His swords were coming from every possible angle.

"… A-Awesome…" Naruto and Gaara stared in awe as Kirabi kept on fighting his enemy using that strange style, acrobatic and basically unpredictable. They couldn't tell what Yagura was thinking, though, since his stoic face was still in place.

_W-What kind of fighting style is this? I've never seen anything like this!_ Nor he had heard about it. Little did he know that it was something that Kirabi had basically made up on his own. Most of what his older brother's subordinates taught bored him to death. Even Kenjutsu. He wanted something flashy, something unusual, something to go with his rap… So he then decided to try using more than one sword. He had managed to reach the amount of four just a couple of weeks before.

"I float like a butterfly…" Suddenly, he managed to land a hit on the enemy's left biceps. Kirabi used the opening to come to a halt facing him and turn around the swords he was holding in his hands. "And sting like a bee! 'Cause I'm the eight tailed beast!"

"Nghh!" The black youth delivered a vicious blow in the shape of a cross on the assassin's chest, making him stumble to the ground and fall. The man rolled on the ground and got back on his feet pretty quickly, though. He glared at the genin from behind his cloth quite fiercely. "You…"

"Haven't got enough? I appreciate the though! I've been dyeing of using this in a real fight! It sends inspiration all through my body like an electrical current!" Naruto sweatdropped. The way he talked was still terrible and full of nonsense… He shook his head. At least, the way he fought was damn cool. And he looked really strong. They were safe, then.

The ninja used an healing jutsu yet again, closing the wounds before he lost too much blood… He then gritted his teeth while he got back on his feet. _That style is too unpredictable, and close-range fighting isn't my specialty in the first place… But to have to get serious…_ "… I admit it. You're strong…" Kirabi's smirk had short life, as the assassin's eyes narrowed. "For a genin." The older shinobi got out a scroll of his own, and opened it to its full length, and handful of meters, before throwing it high into the air and making handseals. "Who do you think I am? I'm a Jounin! I wasn't fighting at full strength because this was supposed to be an assassination!"

_I can feel a huge chakra…_ Kirabi was on his guard. Not knowing what was about to come to him, he preferred to wait and observe. He couldn't rush in blindly and give the ninja a chance of counterattacking… His eyes widened. "What is that? A ball of… …" He paled. It wasn't a ball of iron… They were tens of kunai that had gotten out of the scroll, and they were all suspended into the air. The ninja did one single hand seal.

"Ninpou! Kirinotetsu (Mist of Steel)!" Suddenly, the kunais all separated from each other, like each had suddenly gained their own mind, floating in the air, moving slowly forward… Before they shot forward in various direction. Kirabi was sweating while the younger ones gasped. "You're finished, kid!"

_This is bad…_

-Breakline-

_This chakra…_ Far away from his position, Roshi had detected a new big source of chakra suddenly making itself known. While dodging another attack from the enormous insect-like summon that he had been fighting for a while now. His techniques had managed to damage him, but a full victory was still far.

But he was worried. The chakra he felt didn't belong to anyone of the four he had left behind at the encampment. And why was chakra flaring so far from it? Another blow. He dodged it by jumping back. "… I have to finish this right now." While still in mid air, Roshi started to go through a long series of handseal. Right after he landed, he slammed his hands on the ground. "Yoton. Hibi Kyojin. (Lava Release. Giant Fissure)"

-Breakline-

"… Will you hurry and die?" Han was getting really impatient, mostly because he could feel that something unexpected was going on near the encampment. And he didn't like it one bit. Unfortunately, he had chosen to fight the summon using the 'slow but certain' way. As in, sure death, but it took a little while. The summon was trashing around and getting weaker and weaker, but it still was alive. He then felt Roshi's surge in chakra. Seems like he had made the same reasoning.

-Breakline-

Kirabi hadn't had time to crack some new rap rhyme in those last few minutes. All the breath he had was to be used exclusively to protect himself, at the moment. The guy was indeed a Jounin, even if a low level one. After he had used that technique, he had been in big trouble. Basically, the 'floating kunai' thing he was doing before? He started doing it with almost an hundred of them, only this time they were running wild and extremely fast, in a small area. He was still alive because he was used to unpredictability because of his fighting style, but he was bleeding from a lot of cuts. He couldn't keep on dodging forever.

"You can't keep on dodging forever!" The ninja cursed internally. To think that he had had to use so much chakra and that technique to get that job done… He felt shame. A big deal of shame for having been pushed so far by a group of brats, of which just one was a ninja: a rookie genin. Those were his thoughts while he kept on controlling the kunais with slick movements of his fingers and hands.

"Oh, no…" Naruto and the others couldn't do anything but stare in horror at the scene. The 'iron mist' had trapped Kirabi in it, and he was getting more injured by the second. He felt so powerless… He slapped his face. If they didn't do something, they were all going to die. "Gaara!"

"Y-Yes?" The redhead suddenly jumped, frightened by Naruto's sudden outburst. "You said that you hurt people, before… I mean, how do you do it? Can't you do anything to help?" Gaara's eyes went wide but then he lowered his head, shaking it slowly.

"N-No… Sorry. I mean… To use my power, I need sand. Without sand, I can't do anything…" Naruto blinked at the reply, and then panicked.

"S-Sand? How are we going to find sand here in…"

"Teddy." The two suddenly turned to Yagura, who was currently holding high Gaara's teddy bear, in front of him, with both his hands.

"So?" Naruto said, confused by Yagura's words. Suddenly, the silver-haired kid let the toy fall to the ground with a kind of a loud 'thud'.

"Teddy's heavy." The boy replied. Naruto groaned.

"Of course it's heavy! Usually, they fill these things with… …" Suddenly Naruto blinked. Gaara mimicked him and then they turned to one another, voicing the same word at the same time. "SAND!"

Gaara immediately grabbed his teddy and gave him a sorrowful glance. "Sorry, Teddy…" He the proceeded to pull on it till he opened a big gap into its back. Then he began to shake it, and sand began to pour out of it.

"Yes! So? So?" Gaara kept on pouring sand till the teddy was empty. In front of him was enough sand to fill a beach bucket.

"… It's not enough to kill him…" Gaara said, noticing that the amount of sand that was now raising in the air wasn't enough to envelope a whole body into it. Naruto cursed under his breath.

"Ahhh! What do we do? What do we doooo?"

"His hands." Yagura again. Naruto and Gaara blinked and turned to the battle again… And then they saw that the ninja, to control all those kunais, was constantly moving his hands and fingers.

"His hands… If we take out his hands…" Naruto turned to Gaara again, shaking him out of his reverie. "Gaara, can you…"

"Y-Yes!" Gaara suddenly shot both his hands forward. The sand suddenly dissipated in a little cloud, becoming invisible to the eye, making it head towards the adult ninja.

_Damn! What the hell am I doing? I'm supposed to just kill Gaara! I could have just used this technique on him… … No. I could have killed the boy from Kiri too._ But time was running out. He had to kill the black nuisance and then get back to his mission. He was about to increase the speed of the kunai, when suddenly he heard a familiar noise. Like the noise sand makes while falling down a hourglass… His eyes widened when he saw his hands getting enveloped by sand. "G-Gaara!"

"S-Sabaku Sousou!" Shouted the little redhead, closing his hands into fists with strength, and the sand around the ninja's hands mimicked its actions, clenching and crushing the appendages with brutal strength, making him scream in pain. The kunai suddenly stopped in mid air before falling to the ground.

"Good work, kids!" Kirabi said while using his swords to deflect the last kunais. He had a chance. Till the ninja was still shocked, he was going to go for the finishing blow. He rushed at the ninja. "Ahhh!"

"Nngh… Ah!" Kirabi slammed into the ninja's stomach with two of his blades, going nicely through him like it was a soft steak. He then pulled them out and slammed them into his legs, earning another scream. Finally, he grabbed the other two and slammed them into his arms. He then picked out a kunai from the ground.

"Justiceeeeeeeee!" He shouted, and then slammed the kunai and the full weight of his body in the middle of the ninja's chest, making him fall to the ground on his back, the last scream dying in his throat.

Naruto, during all the thing, had just been staring in the direction of the battle, in awe as first Gaara's sand crushed the bad guy's hands and then Kirabi finished him. Now it was time to voice his awe. "T-That was awesome!"

"A-Are you alright?" The three younger kids all hurried to Kirabi's said, noticing that he still was bleeding from his cuts. The Kumo Jinchuuriki just grinned.

"No sweat! I kicked names and took ass… Wait…" Kirabi had the sensation that that particular saying was the other way around. He shook his head. "Nevermind. More importantly…" He turned his head to the man on the ground, who although heavily injured and profusely bleeding, was still alive. "Do you have any idea why this guy would want to kill you, red?"

"… N-No… I… I don't know…" Naruto gulped, feeling as shaken as Gaara, at the moment.

"Hmmm… Well, maybe it's someone you know." Kirabi leaned down and grabbed the cloth covering the man's face, removing it with a sharp tug… And then Gaara's eyes widened, and his heart skipped a beat. The person on the ground, the person that had been trying to kill him… It was indeed someone who he knew.

"Eh…" The man laughed, weakly. "Impressive… Gaara-sama…"

"!" Everyone jumped at Gaara's sudden outburst, Naruto being the one most frightened. The redhead had suddenly grabbed his head with both hands and had screamed out, while basically collapsing on the ground, tears starting to flow out freely.

"G-Gaara? Gaara, what's wrong?" Naruto kneeled down as well, grabbing Gaara's shoulders, suddenly very worried about his friend's state. The teal-eyed kid didn't even hear him. He just kept on crying and screaming his soul out. "Gaara! W-Who…" He turned his head to the man, glaring at him. "Who are you? W-What have you done to him?"

"… Right now… Nothing… Cough…" The man replied, coughing some more blood out of his mouth. Gaara, hearing his voice, seemed to calm down… A little. He stopped screaming and simply began hiccupping and kept on crying.

"W-Why… Why you…" He said, hiccupping some more. "Yashamaru…"

"Ya…" Naruto then remembered of what Gaara had told him in the past days about his life in his village. He had told him that there was just one person who was nice to him, a certain Yashamaru… His uncle. He gasped. "You're… His uncle?"

"You… Sniff…" Gaara tried to rub away some of the tears on his face. "Only you… Were my friend…"

"… It was an order." The man replied, seemingly gathering some leftover strength to talk in a clear voice. The phrase surprised Gaara, it seemed, by the way his body shook a little under Naruto's grasp. "I was ordered to assassinate you…" The man took a pause, to spit out some more blood… "By your father… Kazekage-sama."

Kirabi narrowed his eyes hearing those words. And Naruto's face became a mask of horror. Even Yagura seemed to be shaken by those words. Gaara was the most shaken one there, it seemed, since he suddenly lost his breakfast on the ground right beside Yashamaru's feet.

"Y-You liar! That can't be!" Naruto screamed. He couldn't believe that… That a dad could want to kill his son. "A dad… It just can't be!"

"… You're… The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, right?" Naruto stopped talking and got back on his feet letting Gaara go when he heard that the guy knew who he was. He suddenly chuckled a little before coughing up more blood. "If you are… Then you can understand…"

Naruto started to tremble as well. He knew that both he and Gaara were feared and hated, but… To kill them… He shook his head. "T-That's not possible! Why would his own father want him dead?"

"… Because… His father is… Kazekage-sama." Naruto became even more confused, while Kirabi 'Hmm'-ed. He was a Kage's brother, so he sort of understood what the man meant. "Unlike you… Gaara-sama was born to be… Possessed by the sand Shukaku." Naruto and Gaara were listening to every word. "Until today he has been watched over like an experimental subject…" Yashamaru turned his gaze to Gaara again, who was still keeping his head low, tears and snot joining the vomit on the ground. "However… Gaara-sama, you are yet unable to control the powers of the Ichibi… Before long your existence will become too dangerous to the village itself… We simply couldn't let that happen…"

Naruto was trembling as well, this time in rage. An experiment… His own father… Too dangerous… It sounded all impossible to his mind. So innocent, so naïve… That of a child.

"… Then…" Gaara sniffled a bit and seemed to regain some strength in his voice… A hint of a smile surfaced on his face, hearing those words. "Then… You had no choice… It was because of father…"

"… No. You're mistaken." Gaara's was shaken again, that tiny thread of hope that he had in his heart suddenly getting even thinner. "Yes, I did receive Kazekage-sama's order. But… I could've declined it if I wanted to…" Gaara began to shake again, in fear. "… Lord Gaara…" Yashamaru moved his gaze, shifting it from the redhead to his own chest. "Deep down inside… I must've always… Resented you…" Naruto noticed how Gaara's eyes went unbelievably wide at that. "For coming into this world, stealing life away from my dear sister…"

Gaara's tears stopped, it seemed like he had finished them. He raised his head again. Even his trembling had stopped. Every word was like a fresh stab wound to him.

"I tried my best to love you by thinking of you as her memento… But I couldn't…" Yashamaru shifted his gaze to Gaara again. "She never wished to give birth to you… She was sacrificed for this village and therefore died cursing at it…"

Kirabi was starting to feel uneasy as well. Those were some pretty harsh words. And all at the same time. In a short while Gaara had come to know that his father and uncle wanted him dead, leaving him without anyone left to love him and that his own mother would have never wished for him to be born into the world.

"Perharps… From that moment on, I've been carrying never-healing emotional scars…" Gaara began to remember what Yashamaru himself had told him about emotional scars. "Your mother gave you your name…" Yashamaru began to quote his late sister's words. "This child name… Is Gaara. 'A demon that loves only himself'. Love only yourself… And fight only for your sake… She wished and believed and your existence is forever as long as you live so."

Gaara was even more shocked. Yagura noticed this. His name had no meaning, but… He preferred it to a name with such a meaning. Especially if…

"But… She didn't give you the name… Out of concern, or love for you…" Yashamaru continued. Naruto was trembling in rage again, his fists shaking profusely. "The name was given to you… In the hope of your eternal existence… To let her grudge be carried down… And be known to the world…" The blonde gritted his teeth so much that they were almost hurting. "You were never…"

"SHUT UP! IDIOT!" Yashamaru suddenly stopped when it was Naruto, this time, who had an outburst, along with the act of kicking him. This surprised not only him but the other kids as well. He kept on kicking him. "IDIOT! IDIOT! IDIOT! YOU'RE AN IDIOT AND… AND… A COWARD! YES! YOU'RE A COWARD!"

Yashamaru kept his silence while Naruto kicked him again and again, before stopping. He was starting to cry and sniffle too.

"You… You said…" He sniffed up a large drop of snot, it sounded. "You said… Gaara's mom… Cursed the village and… His father…" He started to tremble again, in anger, before shouting loudly again. "Then, why did you not get angry at them instead of Gaara? Do you think Gaara would have wanted his mom to die?"

Yashamaru kept on listening, along with Gaara.

"Instead… Instead of getting angry at them, you decided to get angry at Gaara! Because it was easy! Because everyone else already were doing so! You're a coward and a bad man! Idiot!" Naruto said, tears falling from his eyes as well, hiccupping. "S-So, Gaara's father doesn't love him? You hate him? I don't care! He doesn't need him! Because he has friends now! I am his friend!"

Gaara had stopped crying, by now. He was staring at Naruto with wide eyes while he kept on talking, and he didn't know why, but he felt like smiling a little.

Yashamaru thought about Naruto's words for a few seconds before smiling sadly. "A coward… Eh… Maybe you're right… But…" Suddenly, Yashamaru's hands went for his chest. With his last strength he plucked out the kunai. "It doesn't matter anymore, now…"

"Ah!" Kirabi's eyes widened when he recognized what was under the Jounin's jacket, from the smoke suddenly raising. He grabbed the younger kids in a hurry. _Paperbombs!_ "We have to get away!"

"E-Eh?" Naruto got startled by the sudden gesture, while Yashamaru let his hand fall to the ground again.

"This is it… Please die…" Kirabi, with his injuries, managed to make just a couple of meters before the paperbombs exploded. The older kid threw all of them to the ground, closing his eyes…

"Doton! Doryuheki! (Earth Release. Earth Style Wall.)!" A voice suddenly resounded loudly from in front of them, and the explosion never reached them. When the noise went off, the group of young Jinchuuriki turned around. Out of nowhere, an enormous wall of earth had appeared to shield themselves from the explosion. They turned in the other direction and saw Roshi, crouched on the ground with his hands on it, sighing in relief. "I made it in time…"

-Breakline-

"Seems like it was an assassination attempt against the Kazekage's son."

"There's no way of identifying the attacker, though, since in a last desperate attempt at accomplishing his task, he exploded himself with a large number of paperbombs." Roshi said, talking with the various Anbu while the kids rested on the steps of the nearby barrack, Kirabi being bandaged by the two from Kumo. Kirabi had decided to not say anything because he didn't know if him accusing the Kazekage of such an act could be believed or if it could put his village into trouble. Gaara didn't want to talk about it. Naruto and Yagura… They probably didn't believe it was important.

"You shouldn't have endangered yourself like this, Kirabi-sama…" One of the Anbu said. Kirabi just laughed.

"Ah! It was no sweat! Me and my comrades took care of the thre… OW! Watch out with those bandages!"

"If you stopped moving, maybe…" Naruto said, grinning. Kirabi frowned.

"Hey, at least I got injured doing something, you know." He replied. Naruto frowned as well. He hated to admit it, but it was true. Back there, he had been useless. Kirabi had fought that guy, Gaara had used his sand to crush his hands and make them win and even Yagura had done something. If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have found the sand nor would have they escaped him in the first place.

"Hmmm…" He frowned even more. _I really want to start the academy…_ His mind went back to how scared he had been and he didn't' know what to do. He didn't want to feel like that ever again.

Gaara and Yagura had been mostly silent after getting brought back to the encampment. Yagura because he was just being himself. Gaara… He had a lot of thoughts on his mind. The shock of the latest events was still fresh in his mind, but, someone was soothing them enough to calm him down. He turned to his right, to Naruto, his sand still floating around him. "N-Naruto…"

"Uh?" Naruto blinked and turned to Gaara, breaking his thoughts about getting into the academy and getting super-strong.

"You…" Gaara swallowed and looked at the ground for a few seconds, before looking at Naruto again. "You… You were saying the truth?" Naruto got a bit more confused at that. He tilted his head to the side. Gaara smiled a little. "You… Want to be my friend?"

"Eh? Of course I want to!" Naruto said with a gasp. "No, we already are friends, Gaara! You're the first friend I've ever had!"

Gaara lowered his head, smiling. "F-For real?"

"Yes! I want to be friends, Gaara!" Naruto said, nodding his head frantically. "I don't want to be alone! And I don't want you to be alone! E-Even if we live far away…" Naruto lowered his head sadly… And then shook his head fast. "We will always be friend! A-And we will see each other at least one time every year, right? And when we become ninja, we can visit each other whenever we want!"

Gaara raised his head and smiled a little… And then, suddenly, his sand started moving, startling Naruto and Yagura who were sitting beside him. The two gasped when the sand suddenly shot towards Gaara's forehead, and they could see blood starting to flow from it.

"G-Gaara! What are you doing?" Naruto asked, but didn't move because the sand got in front of him.

"I-It's alright… Nnngh…" Gaara was biting his lower lip while the sand started to… Write, engrave something on his forehead, over his left eyebrow. It took just a few seconds. When the sand got away from his forehead, where once there was clear skin, there now was a scar… No, a tattoo. Still bleeding, in the shape of a kanji.

"G-Gaara…" To say that Naruto was speechless was an understatement. Gaara slowly turned his head back to face him.

"I-It's a Kanji… It means… Friendship…" Naruto was even more confused. Gaara was crying again, this time for a different reason, though. "S-So… This way I will never… I will never forget that I have a friend… When I feel sad… Or alone… I will just look at it."

"… Gaara…" Naruto kept his confused face on for a little while more… Before starting to cry as well. He rubbed his tears away and then the two young children hugged each other, smiling. Naruto suddenly felt someone else hugging him and Gaara from the side. The two looked down and saw Yagura crying too. "… You too?" The silver-haired child just nodded. Naruto grinned and hugged him as well.

"Kirabi-sama, are you crying?"

"NO! THIS IS JUST… INSPIRATION! YOU IDIOT! THIS SCENE IS BEAUTIFUL! NO ONE IS CRYING HERE, YOU IDIOT! WAAAAAAAAAH!"

-Breakline-

"… So… Why is my mind a sewer?"

"I don't really know, Naruto. But… It seems we're here." After a quick trip through his mind, Roshi and Naruto had arrived in front of an enormous steel gate, with a piece of paper hanging from it. Naruto didn't saw anything in it… Before two enormous eyes opened from behind it. He flinched, and then a growl resounded in the air.

"**Hmm… A nice surprise… Even if I cannot devour you…"** A deep voice said before laughing lowly. Naruto swallowed.

"You're… The Kyuubi?" Said demon suddenly laughed again.

"**Just my luck. What a smart kid I've been sealed into…"** His enormous teeth appeared from the darkness too, and Naruto shivered a little. **"So… What did you come here for? You and this old human… That… Hmmm…"** The Kyuubi seemed to observe Roshi for a few seconds before talking again. **"You give out… A familiar chakra, human…"**

"I should say so, Kyuubi…" Roshi replied, crossing his arms over his chest. "So, Naruto? What did we come here for?"

Naruto swallowed and then narrowed his eyes. "I… I wanted to tell you… That one day, I will… If I may need your power…" He suddenly shot his right arm and index finger forward. "Y-You will give it to me! Alright?"

The Kyuubi stared. One. Two. Three. He started to laugh so loud that Naruto fell on his butt. **"AHAHAHAHAHAH! YOU… THREATENING… ME! AHAHAHAHAH! PRICELESS!"** Naruto was confused at first… But then he got angry. Really angry. He started to throw a tantrum while Roshi palmed his face. The Kyuubi slowly calmed down. **"Ahahahah… Kid, you're a real clown… Eh. Don't worry, though… This seal is made so that if you die, I die too… So be assured that till I find a way out of here, I will not let you go meet the Shinigami."**

"… For real?" The Kyuubi laughed a bit more and then just closed his eyes and mouth, disappearing into the darkness of his cage with Naruto and Roshi staring. The older Jinchuuriki nodded in acknowledgment.

"Seems like our work here is done. Let's go back outside."

-Breakline-

"So… It's goodbye." It was the morning of their departing. Everyone was going back home. Naruto pouted. The deal was that they were allowed to go back to the camp only till they became genin. And that meant that Kirabi wasn't coming back. Even if his rap was stupid, he was funny… And he was so cool, in his fighting. Gaara and Yagura were sad as well. You can't save someone's life without making them at least grateful to you. He grinned. "Ahhh, don't be like that! We will be forever joined by the love for the fine art of rap!"

"… Still…" Naruto pouted and kicked the ground. "I wanted you to teach me to do that thing with the swords…"

"Impossible." Naruto blinked at the new voice, coming from Yugito, who had just flat out said stated that Naruto couldn't learn Kirabi's style of fighting. "That's a secret style Kirabi developed on his own. He can't teach you that. Also…" She looked at his body from the top of his head to the fingers of his feet. "You look too much like an idiot for ever hoping to learn it."

"WHAT?" Naruto shouted. Kirabi just held him back with one hand while Yugito turned around and started to walk away.

"Leave her be. She's… Honest like that. And it's true that I couldn't teach you that even if I wanted to." Kirabi said. Naruto grumbled and then crossed his arms over his chest… Suddenly, an object came into his field of vision. A sword. One of Kirabi's swords. He looked up at the older Jinchuuriki who simply put the weapon into his hands. "It's the only one left after that son of… Ehm, after that guy exploded himself."

"And… You want to give it to me?" Kirabi grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

"As long as you follow the way of the rap, you can try to learn and use at least one, right?" He then ruffled the blonde's air before starting to walk away, waving at them with one hand. "So long, guys! Be strong and don't forget the rap way!"

Naruto stared at him and then nodded. "You betcha!" He then turned around, seeing Yagura and Utakata about to go away as well. The two waved at him and he waved back. "So long, Yagura! Utakata-niichan! Let's play in the water again, next year!" Utakata smiled and nodded… And much to Naruto's shock even Yagura portrayed a small smile on his face.

Naruto turned around and then headed to the two leaf Anbu to lend them the sword before hugging Gaara tightly… Or at least trying, since his face met the sand. "Ow."

"Ehm… My sand protects me. You probably were going to hurt me, with that hug…" Naruto rubbed his sore nose while grumbling under his breath. Gaara laughed. "Hey… C-Can I write to you?"

"Eh? Of course! My address is… … Ehm…" Naruto sweatdropped. He didn't know. He turned to the two leaf Anbu. "Hey! Where do I leave?" The two ninjas sweatdropped and one palmed his face before getting out a piece of paper and starting to write. Naruto grinned and turned back to Gaara, to hug him not as tightly as he wanted before. "I'll miss you! Write me lots!"

"Yes! I will!" Gaara said, hugging him back tightly. Naruto let him go and then hurried to the two older Jinchuuriki from Iwa, bowing in front of them.

"Thanks! I'll see you next year, Roshi-jiisan! Han-san!" He said bowing maybe a little too deeply. Roshi smiled at him and ruffled his hair, while Han just nodded. Satisfied, Naruto went to say to the last remaining Jinchuuriki… Only to find the girl still reading that book. "H-Hey… I wanted to say hi…"

"Hmmm… Oh? Ah, sorry, sorry, sorry!" She said, putting the book away and stretching her arm and hand for Naruto to shake. "Sorry, I was so caught by the story… Yes, I'll see you next year… Ehm…" Fu suddenly put a finger to her lips, signalling confusion… Then, she blurted out… "Sorry, what was your name again?"

If it wasn't that he was holding on her hand, Naruto would have ended up face on the ground for the first time in his life. "Fu-chan, you're so strange…" She laughed a bit nervously while Naruto let go of her hand sighing. "Well, my name is Naruto! Uzumaki Naruto, alright? See ya!"

"Ahhh! Alright! See ya next year, Naruto-s… … Naruto-san?" She blinked, moving her gaze from the blonde to her book then to Naruto again then to the book again. She thought about it for a few seconds, and then… "He has the same name?"

-Breakline-

"Naruto… Welcome back."

"Jii-san!" Naruto, upon seeing the Hokage, obeyed to the instinct of glomping him. The old man laughed and held him up with one hand, to bring the young one's face to the same level as his own. "Man, I had so much fun! I met Gaara, and then a bad ninja, and then Kirabi gave me his sword, and…"

"Ahahah! Calm down, Naruto. Slow down." The Hokage said, enjoying greatly the laughs and smiling face of the young blonde. _So… I made the right choice, then._ "I take it you liked it?"

"Yes! I can't wait for next year!"

_Continue…_

_In the next chapter…_

Over the year between the first meeting and their next one, what are our Jinchuuriki up to? Let's give it a quick look. Stay tuned!


	3. Childhood III

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… Otherwise I would have made this happen.

**Leadership**

**Book I, Chapter III: Interlude I**

_Sunagakure_

"Welcome back, Gaara-sama."

"Welcome back."

The red-head child answered his servants' greetings with just a polite nod of his head. Being back in his home felt strange… Especially after what had transpired a few days before. The ninjas who had accompanied him handed his luggage to the maids and then bowed. Gaara knew that they weren't bowing to him. He raised his head and his gaze met his father's one, his older brother and sister beside him.

The Kazekage dismissed the two shinobi with a gesture of his hands. They disappeared in a puff of smoke while Gaara began to walk up the stairs. "Welcome back, Gaara. Was your camp… Entertaining?"

"… Yes." Gaara replied, with a low voice… And then his inner self began to fight. Should he or shouldn't he? Kirabi had told him to say those words to his father, but… He swallowed. "Ah… Uncle Yashamaru and mom say hi."

The Kazekage's eyes widened a little, but he quickly regained his composure, while his other two children just stared at him in confusion while he walked right past them to his room. To the Kazekage those words meant something indeed. They meant that Gaara now knew… Probably everything. Yashamaru had not only failed but he couldn't even die without spilling the beans… He internally cursed. Next time he would send someone more competent.

In his room Gaara had put his teddy on his bed and then opened his window, staring at the village out of it. Those words… He didn't understand completely what they were supposed to mean, but he didn't know why, they had brought a smile to his lips. Now, he was thinking about something else. _Back then… If I had had more sand with me, the others wouldn't have had to get hurt defending me… Hmmm… Maybe I should start carrying some sand with me?_

He puffed his cheeks while thinking about how to carry around some sand with him… He blinked when he remembered that once he had played by making his sand form shapes and objects. Maybe he could make a container with his sand and then put more sand into them? But what kind of container? It should be something that would limit his movements much… Something that he didn't have to carry around with his hands. Maybe something like a backpack? He massaged his temples. This was going to take some time…

-Breakline-

_Kumogakure_

"Ahahahah! Now that's what I call training! Maybe we should implement it into the academy!"

"Please do not, brotha! It was hell on heart-a!" Kirabi had just finished narrating about the hellish morning stroll of Roshi, and the Raikage had had a very good reaction, it seemed. At his younger brother's reaction he laughed even louder, unfortunately for his house's structural integrity.

"Ehhh… Let's do this. You knock the rap down a bit and I will not do so." Kirabi crossed his arms and frowned, muttering some kind of agreement under his breath. His older brother patted his head with one of his enormous hands a couple of times. "Eheheh, good boy. Now, Yu…" He turned to the other chair in the room just to find that the girl had already disappeared. He groaned. "That girl has already gone back to her home? Does she like training so much?"

"Nah. I just think that she doesn't like social interaction, bro." The Raikage sighed. The camp didn't have any effect on that, he guessed.

"Alright, alright… Well, let's focus on important things. Your graduation. Want to know about your team-mates and jounin teacher?"

-Breakline-

"Ah!" Yugito threw yet another kick at the training dummy in the middle of the garden. That was probably the quietest place for her, apart the seclusion of her own room. That because no one but the servants of the Raikage's clan and the clan members lived there. And they were the only one who didn't look at her… Like the rest of the village did. "…"

It had been a few days since she last trained seriously, apart the training stroll in the morning… And even if she didn't show it, she had enjoyed it. Being around other people who at least tried to talk to her, taking a bath in the river, basking in the sun… But yet, she didn't even try to make some kind of permanent bond. They all were Jinchuuriki, weapons, each one from a different village… It wasn't impossible than in the future they would fight each other.

Sighing a little she sat on the steps just behind her, taking a towel from her backpack. In doing so something else came out of it and fell on the ground. A book. "… I still had this?" She crouched down and picked up the book that Amaya had given her. She had read just a few pages of it, then quickly dismissed it, since she really wasn't into reading. She opened it at the page she had stopped reading. "Maybe… Just a few pages."

-Breakline-

_Kirigakure_

"Mizukage-sama. We brought back…"

"Our two containers. I can see it. I'm not blind." The Mizukage said, still not turning around from his position on his chair, facing the wall instead of the people in his room. "So…" He turned his eyes towards the two young Jinchuuriki. "What have you learned?"

Yagura kept his silence, like usually. Utakata usually did the talking for both of them, in front of the leader of Kirigakure.

"The other Jinchuuriki are all going through some kind of training to further exploit their demon's power, with the exception of the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The one from Konohagakure. Uzumaki Naruto." He said.

"Hmm… And I've heard that you've gotten involved in the attempt at the Kazekage's son's life, Yagura." The small Jinchuriki nodded.

"He was roomed with him. It couldn't be helped." Utakata tried to say but he was cut off.

"I wasn't asking you. Is that the only reason why you've gotten involved in that accident?" The leader asked again, his voice a bit harsher. He had heard that everyone else had been made fall asleep to not involve them in the situation. The small boy just gave another nod. The Mizukage frowned. It was incredible how that child was unreadable even to him. "… Whatever. Get them out of my sight. Tomorrow they start training again."

The two Jinchuuriki bowed and then were excused to the door by two older ninjas. Utakata raised an eyebrow when he saw Yagura took a hold of his backpack again. He usually just let other people take care of it, because of the weight. Little did he know that inside the backpack he had a little present from one of his newest presents. A teddy bear.

-Breakline-

_Iwagakure_

"So? Impressions?" The Tsuchikage asked her soldiers while going through the pictures they had taken of the main subject of their 'surveillance' at the training camp.

"He seems a pretty normal child, if not for the inherent… Traits of being a Jinchuuriki. Isolation, fear, hate… The usual." Roshi said. The woman, leader of her village, nodded in acknowledgment of his words.

"So, he lives alone…" She commented absent-mindendly. She snorted. "Incredible… Being the son of his parents… But then again, his true identity has never been revealed to the public."

"Yes. So… What now?" She sighed and put away the pictures in a folder.

"Patience, Roshi. Patience… My plan will take a few years to realize. He's still a child, after all."

-Breakline-

_Takigakure_

"AND THEN, AND THEN… I NOTICED HE HAD THE SAME NAME AS THE GUTSY NINJA! ISN'T THAT STRANGE? EH?"

"Yes… It is, Amaya-chan…" The 'Takikage' said, scratching the side of his head. Indeed, a name like Naruto was pretty unusual, if not unheard of, but for the girl to get so worked up over it… It was probably because she noticed just on the last day. "Ehm… Why don't you go play with Shibuki?"

"Hmmm… Alright." The girl said with a pout, understanding that her speech had bored the leader of Takigakure maybe a tad little more than usual. But she had just repeated it four times… The man sighed, slumping in his chair, while his wife put a hand on his right shoulder.

"I suppose she just was engrossed in that book all the time yet again…" The woman said.

"Yes, but… It seems that now she has something to look forward to for the next year." He said, chuckling at how his son was the next victim of the 'how a boy I know has the same name as the gutsy ninja'. "I bet that next time she will be more… 'Active'. Also, she said that she has given her spare copy to another girl. Maybe…" Unknown to them, Nii Yugito was already through a quarter of the book.

-Breakline-

_Konohagakure_

"Why? I want my sword!"

"Naruto, will you please shut up one moment and listen?" The Sandaime felt an headache coming his way. He massaged his temples. After Naruto had told him everything about the training camp, including how the Raikage's younger brother had gifted him with one of his swords, he had taken said weapon away. Naruto pouted and crossed his arms over his small chest, ending his rant. "Good. Now, Naruto, you must understand a couple of things. First, learning Kenjutsu is probably one of the most difficult things existent. It takes years."

"… And so?" Naruto said.

"No one starts by using a real sword. Inexperienced people just hurt themselves, sometimes irreversibly. Would you like injuring yourself to that extent?" Naruto understood that 'irreversibly' meant a lot, he guessed. So he shook his head. "Good. So, till you're of a suitable age and ability where you can use a real sword…" The Hokage snapped his fingers and his secretary came in, holding something in a scabbard. Naruto perked up when the woman handed him the object. It was a wooden sword.

"This is a so-called bokken, a training sword. It's made to represent your real sword as closely as possible, minus the weight, since you're just six years old." Naruto observed it with curiosity. Indeed, it felt as heavy as the sword Kirabi had given him. "Also, the sword was heavily damaged. It needs repairs. So, here's a deal, Naruto. I'll give your sword, fully repaired, back to you, once you learn how to use it. How does it sound?"

"Hmmm…" Naruto pouted a little, but nodded nonetheless and put the bokken back into its scabbard. "Jii-san, can anyone teach me?"

"Yes, indeed. But it will have to wait till you enter the academy. Without the basics, you can't learn anything more complex, Naruto. For now, I suggest that you focus on some basics exercises. I can show you those myself." The blonde pouted a little bit and then suddenly lightened up. He had almost forgotten about it.

"Right! The academy! When do I begin?"

-Breakline-

_September, 13th_

"Everyone, congratulations on entering. From this day forth, please work hard to follow the shinobi way."

Naruto was standing alone in a crowd, as incredible that could sound. An oxymoron. But there was a fundamental difference in that moment. In another situation, he would have been depressed by the fact that everyone was with one of their parents. And even if it still was like that, a little, the most pressing thing on his mind was the fact that that morning another letter from Gaara had arrived, and that he wanted to go into the classroom as soon as possible and open it.

After the speech from the Hokage had ended, Naruto had followed the teacher and his other companions into the classroom. While most of the other children started talking to each other, he immediately sat somewhere near the end of the classroom and opened the letter. They had been sending a letter a week ever since the camp ended.

_Dear Naruto_

_Thanks for the pic of Konoha you sent me last time. It really is a nice place, with all those trees. And it was funny how the faces of your Kages were sculpted into the mountain. We just have statues._ _I sent you a pic of it. I'm in it along with my brother and my sister._

_How are you doing with your training? Are you now able to swing around the training sword or is it still too heavy? Me, I finally found a way to carry my sand around. I've made it into a gourd that I carry on my back and that I fill with other sand. But it's so heavy… I will have to get used to it. And also, I will have to better control the sand to make a better shape. Hope to see you soon too._

_Gaara_

"Hmmm, the photo, the photo… Ah! Here!" Naruto searched for the envelope and found what he was looking for. It was a pic of Gaara and two other people standing in front of four big statues. Gaara was in the middle, smiling. He noticed that the 'tattoo' was now black. To his sides, but a bit far from him were a girl with long blonde hair tied in four tails and a boy with dark brown hair. He pouted for him. Even his brother and sister were afraid of him… He put picture and letter back in the envelope and placed them in his backpack, near his feet. He would write him back once he went back home.

He then began to look around. There were a few children that he had seen before. Like the chubby one who kept on eating snacks. A few seats down he could see a couple of kids talking between them. He focused and he could hear that they were talking about yet another kid. 'That's an Uchiha, right? He must be awesome…' and things like that. He looked at who they were looking at too. It was a kid with very dark hair, with something like a fan drawn on the back of his shirt, in red and white.

"Hmmm…" _What's an Uchiha?_ Naruto thought, scratching the underside of his chin. He would have to ask Jii-san, next time he heard. Suddenly, the door opened. The teacher was coming in. Naruto swallowed. He was nervous… But it was time to pay attention. He had to get stronger, right? People became ninja in there. So he needed to be a good student so he could become a good ninja.

-Breakline-

"You've done good, children." Iruka said. Well, not really. But after all it was just the first day. Apart a few others, the majority of the students who had just finished running in the courtyard were exhausted. And even those few were breathing and sweating heavily.

"Uh? That's all?" Everyone but… Him. He turned around only to find out that one of the kids, the one who he had had an immediate dislike for from the first moment he had seen him for obvious reasons, wasn't even panting. He was just sweating, and not even heavily.

"Yes, that's all… Naruto. Why do you ask?" The child's name came out of his mouth with a lot of effort. Naruto just scratched the back of his head.

"Well… No, I usually do something a lot more… Sweaty." He said. Iruka crossed his arms over his chest, his face in a little frown. Naruto winched. Maybe he had told something bad? "Ah! B-But the guy who told me to do this is a sadistic old man! S-So, nevermind!"

"Well, why don't you show us, Naruto? What do you usually do?" Iruka said, a bit harsh. Naruto dropped his head. The first day and he had already made people angry?

"Well… First, I do five minutes of running like we did right now. Then… Ehm…" Naruto didn't know how to explain the next thing. "Then I keep on running for half an hour, but… I do it zig-zag between the trees."

"Zig-Zag." Iruka stated. Naruto scratched his right cheek.

"Yes… Like… Hmmm… Ah! You two, come here!" Naruto ran to the other students and suddenly dragged with him the chubby boy and the other who had fallen asleep on the ground. He then put them a few meters from each other. He then started to run from one another, circling around them with sharp turns to change directions. "Like this. Usually I did it in a forest, but… Since I can't go alone in the forest, I now do it like this."

Iruka raised an eyebrow at that. That was an exercise of the advanced type. Even if it didn't look much to an amateur, running like that put strain on your legs. It was an exercise that focus on making your legs more… Springy. "I see. That's all?"

"Ehm, no. Then…" Naruto stopped and then began to look around. He saw a big ball. One of the heavy ones. He crouched down and picked it up. "Then, I go for an hour… Holding this ball in my hands and hopping." He demonstrated, hopping with the ball in his hand forward, earning a few laughs from his peers. He blushed. Iruka's eyes widened. "Ehm… Usually, though, I carry a rock, heavier than this ball."

Iruka was shocked. An almost six years old doing that kind of exercise? It was unorthodox, but he could see what it meant. It took an enormous amount of strain and effort doing that. Hopping while holding that kind of weight in his hands… "That's enough, Naruto." Naruto dropped the ball, still blushing a little. "That's a heavy exercise, Naruto. Try not to overdo it, alright?"

"Ehm… Alright." Naruto said, noticing that the teacher wasn't really angry anymore. He looked more like… Annoyed. It was a step forward.

-Breakline-

_Four Months Later_

"Break time!" Naruto said, stretching. He always felt annoyed. Writing things down wasn't exactly what he liked to do best. The first days his wrists hurt after writing so much, but by now he was used to it. He guessed it was also because of the training with the sword. The Hokage had told him that real study of the Kenjutsu would begin just in his second year of the academy, since he still wasn't strong enough to swing a real sword around efficiently. So, for now, he was training his posture and how to hold and swing it correctly.

Also, the Hokage had told him that the sword that his friend had given him was particular, as in, it was bladed on both sides and lighter than the standard katana. It was probably made so that one could switch from using it with one hand to two hands and in a lot of ways. So, he trained swinging it from various angles holding it in various ways. But all in front of him, for the moment.

"Hmm… It's still snowing." Naruto said, looking outside of his window… He then checked his backpack again, to be sure that 'that thing' was still in the backpack, and for once it wasn't his bokken. It was a small package with a ribbon that he had to send that afternoon. It was a gift for Gaara's birthday, that was coming in a few days. He grinned, holding around his neck the gift that the redhead had sent him himself. A orange scarf. How he had gotten a scarf in the desert, he didn't know. "I bet he will love it."

"Ah! Leave me alone, Ami!" His ears suddenly perked and he narrowed his eyes. He had not made many friendships… Scratch that. None at all. First he was pretty eager to do it, but it seemed like exchanging letters with Gaara had supplied to all his missing affection. But even if he hadn't made many friendship, there were a few children who he disliked. One of those was a girl with purple, bluish hair.

Her name was Ami, and the most he had seen her do till now was bullying other children. The first two months she was just pretty silent and grumpy, but then she had suddenly discovered that she was pretty smarter, stronger and slightly more intimidating than most children her age. From that day on, she had taken an habit of bullying other people. Naruto didn't like that at all.

She didn't get more than one chance with him because he didn't stay in class much. When they ate, he ate away from her and the other children. When there was break time, he went to a secluded angle of the courtyard and practiced with his bokken. Not that she had much to bully him about… Well, that only chance she had almost ripped off his cheeks along with his whiskers. So, those ones, he guessed…

-Breakline-

"Damn, it's colder than usual, today." Naruto said, breathing into his hands, trying to warm them. It was late afternoon, and snow was slightly falling down. The postal office was almost closing, so he had to hurry if he wanted to send the package. It took the thing three days to arrive to the sand village, but he wanted it to arrive a bit earlier. "I just hope they aren't mean to me like the others…"

After getting to know about his 'secret', Naruto's attitude towards the majority of the village had changed slightly. Previously he just was sad and he was certain he could have started to become really angry at them, but now that he knew just why they looked at him like that… He just thought of them as stupid poop-heads. He was angry at them, but not very angry. It wasn't all their fault, after all. Gaara said so too.

"I just hope that it doesn't start snowing even heavier… Uh?" Naruto had stopped walking towards the post office, his backpack stopping his swaying because of it being strapped over just one shoulder. He had noticed something. That being someone he knew sitting alone in the middle of the playgrounds. "… What is she doing?"

Naruto silently came a bit closer to the playground. It just didn't make sense to him. She was alone without her two usual friends who helped her bully other people, and at that hour. Late afternoon during winter meant complete darkness. Just the light of the playground lightened her figure. Ami was sitting alone on top of a swing. Naruto noticed that her face was sad. And she had been crying, it seemed. "They don't care…"

Naruto had always been curious about something. Mainly, just why Ami liked to bully other people that much. That day he discovered a lot about it. The more he came closer, the more evident it became a couple of bruises on her face and on her legs. Also, he saw that she had made a drawing in the snow with a stick. A birthday cake. Naruto didn't show it much, or maybe he was smart just when faced with certain things. In that case, his little mind connected all the dots perfectly, just as he was near enough for her to hear his footsteps. But he talked before she did. "They bully you too?"

"Wha…" Her head shot to the side hearing that voice and recognizing one of her classmates. She narrowed her eyes at him. "W-What are you doing here?"

"They bully you too, right? Your brothers, I think… I think I saw some older boys picking you up at school, once." He continued, not fazed by her usual angry face.

Ami just gritted her teeth and turned around, not wanting to face him.

"And… They forgot your birthday?" He said.

"No. They knew. They just didn't care. Not even mom or dad." She hiccupped, biting on her lower lips. She didn't want to cry in front of other people. Naruto pouted a little. She had hurt him a lot and she had hurt the other students too. But… He sighed. He just couldn't help it. He set his backpack on the ground and opened it. Ami suddenly turned around, hearing him rustle. He picked out of the backpack a big package enveloped in colored paper. Pink with gold stars, with a red ribbon. He handed it to her, earning a clear face of surprise from the girl.

"Happy birthday." He simply said. The girl stared at him like he had grown a second head. He just pushed the package further in her face. "Come on, I can't hold it like this all day."

"… For me?" Naruto nodded, still pouting. Now he had to go and buy another. The girl slowly picked the package from Naruto's hands… The proceeded to open it up in a hurry, sending paper flying in all directions. Under the coloured paper she found a teddy bear, still in its transparent box. She stared at the toy almost in awe. Then she lowered her head, looking at the ground. "…"

"What is it? You don't like it?" He said, suddenly concerned.

"No, it's that… My brothers break all my toys." She replied, sad. His mouth let out a 'Oh'.

"Then… Do you want me to keep it? When you want to play with it, you can come to my house. I live alone, so…" He said. Ami turned to him and thought about it… And then she nodded. She then opened the package and picked out the teddy bear. Naruto pouted even more. Now he had to buy another teddy.

"Ehm… What's your name?" Naruto almost fell to the ground. She had almost ripped his face off and she didn't remember his name? Well, he wasn't that noticeable, in class…

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto." He said, sitting on the other empty swing. Ami nodded and hugged the teddy to her chest, a small smile coming to her face.

"Thank you…" She said. Naruto just nodded… And then started asking himself why he had just given Gaara's gift to someone who had been so bad to him and other people. It didn't make sense, right?

-Breakline-

_Three months later_

His eyes were focused on the object that was taking shape in front of him. He had made a lot of practice with his powers. With his sand. Gaara had found out that while full shapes were basically just a matter of time, shapes that had space inside them were a bit more difficult. For example, now he was trying to make his sand take the shape of a cage with a good enough number of bars. "Hmmm…"

The amount of focus he had to put into the thing was incredible, and the time it took… But he had found out that once he formed a shape for the first time with much effort, it took him from little to no time to do it in a matter of seconds. It was just a matter of practice, it seemed. "Two… Sides…" He had managed to build two sides of the cage, complete with bars. Just two more sides and the upper part to close it. The bars were slowly creating themselves out of running sand. "One… More… Side…"

"Gaara." The redhead let out a small yelp and the cage of sand turned back to a mini-sized dune at his feet. Gaara turned around with a small frown, meeting his sister, who flinched a bit at his gaze. He realized he had been scaring her.

"Sorry, I didn't want to scare you… I just… I mean…" Gaara pouted. "I was really focused…"

"Ah… Sorry…" The little girl said, still a bit uneasy, even if Gaara had turned to sad, from slightly angry. "It's just…" She held out her right hand and arm, showing to Gaara an enveloped. The redhead got back on his feet and basically ran to Temari, grabbing the envelope in a hurry.

"A letter from Naruto!" This was one of the first tricks he had learned. He used his sand to basically get taller, putting more and more under his feet. In a flash, he got to Temari's height and kissed her on the cheek. "Thanks, nee-chan!" He then ran past her and up the stairs to his room, leaving a surprised Temari behind. It was the first time that Gaara ever managed to display affection towards her without the sand interfering. He really had become better at controlling it?

-Breakline-

"Hmm…" Naruto was another child currently focusing on something. After much time, he had finally learned enough for his sword-swings to do some actual damage… Well, in theory. Since he was still training with a bokken, it wasn't like he could dent the training dummy that had been provided to him, being it made of hay and such. Immune to any bludgeoning damage. "Man, I want my sword…" Suddenly, someone knocked on his door. He got up from the floor and approached it. "Who is it?"

"It's me, Naruto." He recognized the voice and opened the door, letting the violet-haired girl inside and closing the door right behind her. He turned around to discover she was already gone, like usual. Like he had proposed, he basically kept in his house all her toys, and she would from time to time to play with them. She had already shot into his room and picked out her teddy bear, hugging it to death. "I missed you, teddy!"

"You're going to break him, if you keep on hugging him that tight every single time." She just replied by sticking out her tongue at him. He sticked his own one back.

"So, wanna play with me?" She asked, turning to him. Naruto shook his head.

"Sorry, Ami-chan. I have to finish training." The girl pouted. Naruto was fun to play with, but most of the times she came to his house he couldn't play with her because he spent most of the time making homework and then training with that wooden sword of his. Naruto noticed her look and scratched the back of his head. "Ehm… Sorry?"

"You always train, train, train, train… Do you ever play?" She said, turning her head to the side while still pouting. Naruto winced at that.

"Ehm…" He scratched the back of his head. "Now that I think about it… No."

"You're boring." Naruto blinked. He… Boring? It was the first time in all his life that someone had ever used that adjective for himself. Thinking about it, though… He guessed that he trained maybe too much. He was a kid, and kids were supposed to play, right? He was only supposed to do the academy's homework and he would be alright. He didn't need to do old man's Roshi course every morning… Or train with his bokken…

"… Sorry, Ami-chan. But I have to train because… Ehm…" Naruto pushed out his lips, trying to think how to explain his situation when he himself didn't know the specific reason for his perseverance in training. He sat down cross-legged. "I don't know… I mean, I told you about that… Training camp I went to last summer, right?"

"Yes, you did. So?" Ami replied, still not looking at him directly.

"Well… We got into some trouble. A bad guy tried to hurt us." That got Ami's attention. She turned to Naruto still hugging her teddy. Naruto scratched the back of his head. "In the end, we managed to get rid of him and got away unhurt… Mostly. But, the fact is, I was the only one who couldn't do anything to defend ourselves."

"… Really?" Ami said. Naruto nodded.

"Yes… I mean, these people I met… They're my first friends. And so… I don't want to be not as strong as they already are. I don't know why, but…" Naruto scratched further, like it could drop some more words onto his tongue. He pouted as well. "Meeeh, it's difficult… It's like, I feel I can't stay their friend if I don't get strong enough."

Ami stared at the blonde for a little while, thinking about his words… She remembered her older sister saying something similar, once. "Hmm… I think I… Kind of understand that…"

"Ah, really? Because I don't really understand it myself…" Naruto laughed right after saying those few words, while Ami thought about something… Maybe she needed to be strong too, to stay near Naruto? After all, she too couldn't do anything against some things that hurt her… Also, Naruto wanted to become strong. Maybe he liked strong people, then? Maybe he would not want to be her friend anymore if she didn't become strong too… She suddenly frowned. Would she have to ask her?

-Breakline-

"Then I'll be going, mother."

"Yes. Be well, daughter." The teenager closed the front door behind her and let out a sigh. She had hoped to find her younger sister at home. That was the only reason she even came back to that home at all. She had always felt guilty about going away and leaving her behind in that hell of a home, but… She just couldn't bear her parents and younger brothers anymore. They were just…

"Nee-chan…" She blinked. So focused she had been in thinking and walking that she hadn't noticed someone walking towards her. She raised her eyes upon hearing that familiar voice. She found her younger sister right in front of her. The usual look on her face. A bit sour, and she wasn't looking at her at all. "Good evening…"

"Ah! Ami!" The teenager approached her younger sister and kneeled down to her eye-level, putting her hands on her small shoulders. "You were out playing? I almost missed you…"

"… Ehm…" The older girl blinked, surprised. Ever since she went away from home her little sister had always showed nothing but contempt and resentment towards her. But now, she looked… Uneasy. "Nee-chan, I…"

"What is it, Ami? Something wrong? I heard you entered the academy, right? Something wrong with that?" The older woman said. Ami bit her lower lip. She really didn't want to ask a favor to her, but…

"Something like that…" Ami said. The little girl decided to just say it. "Nee-chan, you're… A strong ninja, right?"

"Uh?" That was a question that seriously surprised her. Of course she was a strong ninja. She was a chunin about to take the Anbu exam. But what was it to her? "Well, yes… Why do you ask?"

Ami swallowed. Asking her that would mean spending time with her, and she really didn't want that… But, she didn't want to take the risk of losing Naruto as a friend. She raised her head, her eyes showing determination. "Yuugao-neechan, can you help me become a strong ninja?"

"Eh?" The purple-haired teenager blinked. That was a really sudden question… But she smiled. Maybe it was just a way to spend some time with her older sister. She held back a sigh of relief. She was starting to suspect that she hated her. "Of course, Ami. I can."

-Breakline-

"Hokage-sama…"

"Iruka. What a surprise. You rarely visit me in my offices." The Sandaime said, pleasantly surprised. Indeed, Iruka never visited him when he was in his office. He preferred more informal places. Sarutobi put away the folder he was going through and welcomed the tanned man with a smile. "How goes your work at the Academy?"

"Very good, Hokage-sama." Iruka really had been enjoying himself. He had always dreamed of being a teacher, and this first year had been going incredibly good. He had had some doubts at the beginning because of a… Certain student, but… "Actually, I'm here to talk about… One of my students."

The Hokage's smile faltered a bit, but not much. Probably because Iruka didn't have the face he thought he would have. "Young Naruto, right?" Iruka nodded in reply. "How is he doing?"

"Very good. Almost perfect, I must say." Iruka continued, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "For a first year student, it's amazing. He's acing all his exams in all his subjects. In his classroom, only the Uchiha kid has the same grades. Of course, from the second year onward we will introduce chakra control exercises and that another story altogether… But he seems like a very promising student."

"I'm happy to hear that." Sarutobi said, nodding. Frankly, he believed that Naruto was eventually going to take the same road Iruka once took himself. Being the class joker to get the class' attention. But it seemed that the 'training camp' had had a good effect if he had realized he didn't need to do it. "Anything else?"

"Well… Nothing troublesome, but… There's something bugging me." Iruka said, scratching the back of his head. The Sandaime nodded to him, authorizing for him to talk. "Well, how can I say… It's about Naruto's physical activities. The exercises in P.E…."

"Hmm… Maybe they're too hard?" Iruka shook his head vehementely.

"The total opposite, Hokage-sama. They seem never enough for him." The teacher replied truthfully. "I mean… I still remember the first day of academy. All his peers were exhausted from the exercise they had just went through, while he wasn't even winded. After that, he showed me a routine he does every morning…"

Sarutobi understood where Iruka was going with his words.

"I mean, apart his absurdly enormous stamina, just who has thought him that exercise? It's absurdly heavy, and it has some good thought behind it… Is someone training Naruto?"

"Hmmm… No, not currently. No one is training Naruto outside of the academy apart himself. But…" Sarutobi took out his pipe and some tobacco out of one of his drawers, lighting it quickly with his chakra. "I bet that Naruto has mentioned something about a… Training camp, right?"

"Yes… He mentioned this a couple of times to one of his friends…" The class bully, Ami… Well, not so much anymore. Her bullying had toned down quite a bit ever since she befriended Naruto… Now that he thought about it, she was the only person Naruto had befriended. He didn't try to relate to his other peers at all, totally engrossed in his studying… And the letters he exchanged with someone on a weekly basis.

"Naruto learn that exercise from one of the… Caretakers of the camp. That's all. The caretaker is an experienced ninja. Is that a sufficient explanation?" Sarutobi said, puffing some smoke from his mouth right after.

"A… Training camp… But what kind of training camp? And why did he join it before even joining the academy?" Iruka asked, wanting to know the specifics. The Sandaime sighed, expecting such a question.

"I'm sorry but I can't share those details, Iruka. They're a matter of security… As much as Naruto's situation is." Iruka was surprised by that. Something that had to be kept that secret? He immediately understood that he wasn't going to get anything else out of the fire shadow. But he still couldn't help but wonder…

-Breakline-

_June the 13th_

"Aaaaah! Finally over!" Naruto screamed in joy as Iruka had just announced that school was over and vacation was due. Naruto extremely cherished vacations because of all the effort he put into studying. No academy meant that he had more time for himself other than the daily training he put himself through.

"Naruto!" The blonde turned around with a grin. He guessed that Ami would be even more excited than him. The girl had started some personal training too, she had told him. She had asked her sister to train her and had moved out of her home thanks to that. He had been a bit surprised because she had told him time and time again that he resented her sister. But now they seemed to be getting along day by day better with one another. They had even invited him to dinner a few times. "We have three months of vacation, now! You can say no anymore!"

"Eheheh… I guess I can't." The blonde boy said, rubbing the underside of his nose. No escape this time. "Apart from that couple of weeks, you know…"

"Ah, right, right." Ami said, nodding in acknowledgement. He had told her about the training camp and that it was always held in summer. But she wasn't that bothered. Two weeks out of three months were still great in her book.

-Breakline-

_Sunagakure_

"Where will the camp be held this summer, father?" Gaara asked to his father while trying on his newest clothes in front of a mirror. He had decided to drop the overgrown cloth for a black t-shirt to wear over his pants. The thing was always in the way of his gourd.

"Kumogakure has the honor of having you and the other Jinchuuriki for guests, this year." The Yondaime Kazekage replied, observing as Gaara then put on the gourd to observe how it looked with the new clothes. The man had grown more worried by the day. Now that Gaara knew about his mother… And his plans for him… Getting rid of him was an even more pressing matter. Not because of his lack of control, that seemed to have taken a turn for the better in that last year. Gaara had not incidentally hurt anyone again ever since he came back. But because of the secrets he now knew… How would he act upon them once he reached a certain age? A certain level of power?

"Ah. Then maybe we will be able to see Kirabi-san again." Gaara said, while observing his reflection in the mirror. The gourd looked okay with the new clothes, he guessed. The sash of the thing was of a dark green colour.

The Kazekage kept on observing his son. Ever since that day and the 'greetings from the grave' he had fatigued in reading the redhead. He had tried to have him assassinated once more, but it had ended in failure as well. Also there had been the big problem that Gaara had not killed him. If someone had discovered him… He had to dispose of the person and the body himself. Gaara wasn't becoming only stronger. He was becoming more cunning as well. Did he really force him to grow up ahead of time?

"Alright. When do I depart, father?" Gaara said, turning around to look at the Kazekage with an emotionless expression on his face.

"… The camp starts on the 15th of July. But to reach Kumogakure in time you will have to depart three days earlier. So, the 12th of July."

"Understood. Now please excuse me, father." Gaara bowed a little, picked up his teddy with his sand and then walked out of the room, leaving the wind shadow alone with his thoughts…

-Breakline-

_Takigakure_

"Lesse… Clothes, a copy of the gutsy ninja, my swimming suit…"

"Checking the backpack yet again, Amaya?" The leader of Taki asked his little protégé, who just nodded frantically at him.

"Yes! I don't want to risk to have to go back because I forgot something!" She said, checking her backpack yet again. The man rolled his eyes.

"But you do realize that there are still three weeks before the day of the departure, right?"

"Well… Better safe than sorry!" Amaya retorted, renewing her efforts at double speed, earning a booming round of laughter from the Takikage. He approached the girl and put a hand on her head. Amaya immediately settled down at that, blushing a bit. "Sorry… It's just…"

"It's just that you want to be sure to spend the most time you can with that boy, right?" Amaya just nodded shyly. "Eheheh… The first crush…"

"But it's not that! I mean, he… He's… He's the gutsy ninja!" She replied, her eyes wide. The man just smirked. "And didn't you have a crush on the gutsy ninja ever since you first read the book?" Amaya opened her mouth to retort… And then just began to smoke out of embarrassment. The man laughed some more and patted her on top of her head once more before going on his merry way, leaving behind a pretty confused Jinchuuriki.

-Breakline-

_Kirigakure_

"So… We're going to Kumogakure, this year. What do you think, Yagura?" Utakata said to his younger 'colleague' while he practiced blowing pink bubbles with his pipe. The small child just kept on observing a big plant that was now in front of him. The older Jinchuuriki chuckled.

"Yes, be like that. I know that you want to see Naruto and Gaara again."

"… Maybe." The child said. In the past year Yagura had started saying more and more words, even if the occasions in which he opened his mouth were still just a few.

"This time try and remember to give them our address… Even if I doubt their letters will ever get through."

"… Yes." The silver-haired child nodded, a bit sad now because of what he had been reminded of. The Mizukage allowing them to receive letters from other Jinchuuriki. Yeah right. When hell froze over.

-Breakline-

_Kumogakure_

She was focused on the task at hand only… And she hoped to god that this time nothing kept her from succeeding. It seemed like the gods themselves were conjuring against herself to complete that task. Well, it was also partly her fault, because of the secrecy with which she had treated the matter at hand. No one was to know of it. But it was frustrating, having so few steps missing and yet…

"Nii-sama. I've brought your breakfast." She held back a curse as she immediately put the book away under her cushion and the maid found a strange sight. An eleven years old girl doing push ups on her bed. "Ehm… As active as ever, I see."

"Y-Yes. Please leave the tray on the table." Internally she was cursing herself. Not for her carelessness but because of letting herself having been engrossed that much in such a stupid thing. A book. With a title like 'The gutsy ninja'.

-Breakline-

_Iwagakure_

"… Are you sure about this, Tsuchikage-sama?"

"I am." The woman said, placing the envelope in the hands of the eldest of the two Jinchuurikis currently in front of them. Roshi picked it up slowly and passed it to Jouki, who proceeded to go through its contents as well. "Thanks to last year's incident we've been able to collect a sample of the young one's blood… And now that the test have confirmed our suspicions… Well, it's time to move this forward."

Jouki stared at the content of the envelope with wide eyes. This kind of information… Were they really going to…

"But remember." The Tsuchikage said, crossing her fingers with each other in front of her covered face. "The offer has to be made on the last day of the camp. Understood? Right before he goes home."

"… Yes, Tsuchikage-sama." Roshi bowed and engraved the order in his mind. It was going to be done.

-Breakline-

_July the 12th, Konohagakure_

"This year, I've decided to assign the guard duty to you too. This year, differently from the last one, the camp will be held in… Foreign territory." Sarutobi said, eyeing the two Anbu standing in front of him. "I've decided to assign this mission to you two because of your particular… Abilities… Owl-san. Crow-san." The Sandaime joked with the coded names of the two. He didn't know himself why, but he found them amusing.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. We understand." The older of the two, hiding behind a owl's mask said, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. The other one stayed behind. This other Anbu, hiding behind a crow mask, was positively younger. He looked to be around 12, max 13 years old. And his long raven hair went good with his codename.

"… Hokage-sama?" The young ninja said, earning a smile from the fire shadow.

"I believe you stayed behind because you wanted to ask me something, Itachi-kun?" The young one took the mention of his real name as a permission to remove his mask.

"… Why did you assign me on this mission, considering my… Situation?" Sarutobi knew it would be about that. It was incredible how this boy was so dutiful even considering his personality… And just what had been asked of him.

"Because I think you need a break from it, Itachi-kun. Being a double-agent in your own family can be pretty… Draining. And I'm not talking about free time." Sarutobi said, earning the lowering of Itachi's gaze to the floor. The strongest 13 years old in the village, but still a kid. "Also, for two other reasons. First, this mission will give you enough 'credit' to undergo the exam to become an Anbu captain. Second… Because I firmly believe that you're perfectly suited for this mission."

Itachi was unusually sharp for most kids of his age and even for most adults, but with the Sandaime there still was no chance at all for him. He couldn't get the meaning behind that last part of the speech. "What do you mean, Hokage-sama?"

"This 'training camp' and everything that will happen in it will weight heavily on the balance between the major countries. It's supposed to strengthen our bonds, but… Who knows what could happen. Last year we had someone who tried to assassinate the Kazekage's son." Sarutobi let Itachi think about his words for a few seconds before smiling at him and continuing. "So, for such a delicate mission, who is better suited but someone who loves peace and his village as much as you do, Itachi-kun?"

Itachi's eyes widened slightly at that. He then allowed himself a little smile. Sarutobi Hizuren really was kind. Maybe too kind, considering his position. He had assigned him to that mission so that he could do something important for his village without having mixed feelings like it was happening so often because of his permanent mission as a double agent in his family.

-Breakline-

_July the 12th_

"Alright. You sure you didn't forget anything, Naruto?"

"I checked four times! I'm ready to go, jii-san!" Naruto said, grinning. In an year, Naruto hadn't changed much. He had gained a few centimeters of height, but that was that. The most blatant change were his clothes. It seemed like a love for black had joined his love for orange, that year. His sandals and t-shirt were black. Orange were his pants and the spiral motive on the front of his shirt.

"Good, good. Now, this year, you will have to travel. The camp this year takes place in Kumogakure." Naruto blinked and rubbed his chin, squinting his eyes.

"Hmmm… Kumo… Ah! Kirabi-nii-san's home! Then…" Naruto suddenly saddened. Right, Kirabi wouldn't be at the camp anymore. Too bad.

"Well, your guards and travelling companions for this year are Owl-san and Crow-san." Naruto blinked when two armor-clad, masked figures appeared in front of him. One was much taller than the other, so much that… He could understand that the shortest one was probably the same age of Kirabi. Not that much older than him, then. But he knew something. He had seen those armored ninjas before, and they were supposed to be super-strong, super-badass ninjas. So young and he already was a super-strong, super-badass ninja? "They will protect you and accompany you. Try to get along."

"B-But…" The shock about one of his guards' age currently left space to a more childish and simple thought. "But… Are they going to travel three days in those clothes? It looks uncomfortable…"

"Indeed, but do not worry. It's just a henge." The oldest of the two replied, before releasing his transformation along with his younger counterpart. They both were wearing the same, standard attire for leaf jounins. "You can call me Yamato, Naruto. It's nice to meet you."

"… Itachi." Naruto 'ooooh'-ed in awe.

"Henge… I heard the teachers said that we would study that the next year after we learn chakra manipulation." Naruto nodded to himself, a bit proud that his memory was that good and that he had been so attentive to the point of being able to hear things that two teachers said to each other during a break.

"Yes, Naruto. Now, I think it's time. You don't want to be late, right?" Naruto shook his head.

"No, I don't, jii-san. But I'm waiting for…"

"Naruto!"

"Someone." Naruto rolled his eyes and turned around with a grin to see a running Ami approach him from afar. When she stopped right in front of him she was a panting mess, using her own legs as support, her hands on her knees. "Nee, Ami-chan. Woke up late?"

"Your… Fault… W-Who wakes at five of clock?" Everyone who wasn't seven or almost seven years old rolled their eyes. Yes, even Itachi. If only they did know. Naruto just shrugged.

"Don't ask me." He kept his grin on his face while Ami seemed to regain enough breath to stand on her own. "So… I'll see you in a couple of weeks."

"Yes… Have fun and… Bring me something?" Naruto chuckled and nodded, even if he really didn't know what he could find to bring her if it was anything like the camp in Konoha. Ami was shifting her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, looking in doubt about something.

"Hmmm…" She bit her lower lip and blushed a little. "Aaaah…" She slowly leaned forward and opened her arms, slowly enveloping Naruto in a hug. The blonde blinked. It was the first time Ami displayed her affection to him in such a physical way. He then smiled and hugged her back. "If you tell anyone, I'll kill you."

"I bet that if it wasn't so early in the morning you would have never done it." Ami blushed a little at that. Somehow, she doubted that. She felt this strong urge of hugging him after thinking that it would be the first time since she knew him that they would be away from each other for such a long period of time. She broke the embrace and nodded, though.

"Well, alright! See ya, Ami-chan!" Naruto turned around and began to walk towards the front gate, followed suit by Yamato and Itachi. Strangely, Itachi's backpack was the only one that didn't bounce even slightly on his back, the Hokage noticed. He sighed. Uchiha indeed.

-Breakline-

_July the 13th_

"So… Itachi… You're one of those armor-wearing ninjas too, right?" Naruto had been trying to initiate some kind of conversation with Itachi he didn't know how many times on that day and a half of travel, but the boy had always replied with monosyllabic words or few ones and often dismissed it with 'I need to watch the road' or something like that. Not literally, that was just Naruto's childish mind translating.

After lunch on the second day, though, they had stopped. They had been sitting in the middle of a clearing for half an hour already. The Uchiha couldn't use that excuse anymore. "Yes. I'm a member of Anbu."

"Ahhh, that's what they're called…" They didn't teach about supposedly secret teams of special shinobi operatives during the first year of Academy, after all. "Then, you're a super-strong, super-badass ninja, right?"

"… Yes. I'm strong." Itachi simply replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. But he allowed a smile to grace his lips. The kid was as annoying as his younger brother, it seemed. Even if their similarities stopped there… Then, he remembered that his younger brother had told him that there was just one kid who had his same grades in the academy, and that had blonde hair. He connected the dots quickly.

"But… You're not that much older than me, right? You're… 12, right?" Itachi smiled and nodded. He had asked such a question… How come you're that strong? He often asked himself that as well.

"Well, yes. That's because I always trained very hard… But, I guess I have to admit that I was lucky to be born with a… Set of skills and natural affinities that eased my growth in power." Naruto blinked at that. He didn't have that much of a vocabulary yet. Itachi noticed this and sighed. He had almost forgot that he wasn't talking to Sasuke.

"I didn't get it…" The blonde replied truthfully.

"Well… To become a powerful ninja, you have to train hard. That's a given. Follow me so far?" Naruto nodded. Itachi mimicked the gesture. "Good. Now, you must understand that each person is born with a certain set of… Abilities that make some things easier for them, and some things more difficult as well. I was lucky enough to be born so that a lot of things come easy to me."

"Ahh… Like, you were born strong?" Itachi shook his head.

"No. We can say I was born to be strong." The Uchiha put emphasis on the 'to be' words, while putting his hand into his belt pouch. "As I said, to become strong you have to train hard. If you have abilities but you don't learn to use them, they are useless." Naruto nodded in understanding. His mind translated as: no matter if you know how to do something or you can do it something better, if you don't actually do it better. "Pocky?"

Naruto stared at the two sticks covered in chocolate that had been offered to him. He grinned and whispered 'Thanks' before taking one. The two munched in relative silence for a few minutes before something else occurred to Naruto. They weren't travelling anymore. "Hey, Itachi! Why did we stop here, by the way?"

"We have an appointment. We arranged so that we would meet with the delegation from Suna and continue travelling together." Naruto was confused for just a second. It seemed that when it came to his friends Naruto break the fourth wall and added new words to his mind to comprehend people's speeches.

"Suna? You mean…"

"Naruto!" The blonde turned around and cerulean meet teal. His mouth opened and his eyes widened in surprise, then there was just place for a huge grin. He ran towards his target who was mimicking his actions, and they hugged each other maybe a bit too harshly, but they didn't mind. After all that's understandable, when you see your best friend again after almost an year of not seeing each other. "Naruto!"

"Gaara! You're here!" Naruto actually felt some moisture gathering in the corner of his eyes while the two Suna shinobi acknowledged the Konoha's ones with a nod. The two Jinchuuriki hugged each other fiercely for what seemed like an eternity before Naruto broke it. "Wow! Look at you! You've gotten taller!"

"You too! Ah, look!" Gaara turned around and showed Naruto his gourd. The blonde 'wow'-ed in admiration. It had another shape, compared to the photo the redhead had sent him. It was more… Round. Like two balls one on top of the other. "See? I changed the shape! Now I can carry much more sand!"

"Yeah! It looks cool! And you even put stickers on it!"

"But it's so heavy… Ouchie." Naruto just laughed while Gaara rubbed his sore shoulders and the two exchanged those kind of antics for a good thirty minutes before the group of two Jinchuuriki and four shinobi resumed their travelling. Next stop: Kumogakure.

_Continues…_

_In the next chapter…_

Jinchuuriki training camp: second edition. Naruto reunites with the other Jinchuuriki, including Kirabi who makes a surprise visit. The blonde has to deal with a couple of strange behaviors from two of his companions. The two girls, to be precise. But not everything is fun and games, sadly. Stay tuned!


	4. Childhood IV

Well, looks like this fic left a hole in my heart that I had been trying to fill some way or the other. So, here's the new chapter. A few information, adjustments because of the newest informations that came out in the past months, mainly the names of the Jinchuuriki which are now changed to their canon ones (edited the past chapters too, in case you're wondering), and of course, the Kages, but that will come later. Enjoy!

**Leadership**

**Book I, Chapter IV: Among the Clouds**

"I hate fog... I can't see anything!"

"Naruto, you already said that so many times..." Gaara sweatdropped while saying the truth. Naruto had said that sentence at least once every two hours ever since they had entered the central region of Kumogakure, famous for its mountain ranges, surrounded by fog and battered by thunderstorms.

"That's the point of fog, Naruto. You would be surprised how many ninjas use techniques to reproduce it as a distraction." Itachi commented, a possible way to make Naruto stop repeating himself finally coming to mind. "If you stop being such a crybaby, maybe I could even teach you it, once you start using chakra."

"... Alright, I will stop, now." Naruto pouted, but inwardly grinned at the thought of Itachi agreeing to teach him a technique.

In those three days, Naruto had come to appreciate the company of his two guardian angels, and Gaara did too, since his own ones were stoic and mostly silent. Yamato was the responsible one and had all the feeling of the uncle who loved to tell scary stories, and he was damn good at it.

Itachi instead was probably the big brother Naruto had always dreamed of. Nice, smiling, protective, he found the time to joke and talk with the two children, and was an awesome ninja. What could one ask more for in a big brother?

"Good. Also, because we've arrived." Itachi declared as Yamato moved his hand from the right to the left and cut through the last layer of mist, which dispelled in front of them. Naruto and Gaara stopped at the edge of the first step of the set of stairs they currently found themselves in front of, and their mouths opened in wide 'aaaah' as they took in the scenery.

"Naruto, Gaara-san, this is Unraikyo, the Valley of Clouds and Lightning." Yamato then observed the large landscape of water and cliffs and found the rest of the Jinchuuriki and their guards waiting for them on a patch of dry land right under one of the most abitable-like cliffs. "We'll have to walk on water. So... It's piggyback time, I guess."

"Walk on what?" Naruto commented as Itachi knelt down and picked him up and one of the suna nins did the same with Gaara. Instead of a reply, they got a demonstration. The adult ninjas began to walk on the surface of water like it was a marble floor, much to Naruto's awe. "SO COOOOOL! Will I be able to do this too once, Itachi-nii? Eh?"

"Considering that it's a pretty basilar exercise and technique for a ninja, I'd say yes, Naruto." Itachi replied as they approached their destination more and more, and already Naruto could see the others. He saw a boy younger than himself raising one hand in sign of salute, and a dark-skinned girl waving an arm, for once not engrossed in her book. The others occupants, be them jinchuuriki or guardians, just stared and waited for the groups from Suna and Konoha to reach them.

"You're all here! Hi, guys!" Naruto didn't wait for Itachi to drop him. He climbed up the older ninja's back and used his left shoulder as a step, jumping and landing in front of him, before running to his companions.

"Hmm..." Itachi brushed the dirt off his shoulder and observed the blonde boy with a smile. "So eager, ain't he?"

"W-Wait for me!" Gaara immediately ran after Naruto as his own guardian let him down, reaching him just in time to witness Naruto crushing Yagura in a bear hug.

"Yagura! You've grown a lot! Hi, Utakata-nii!" Utakata nodded in acknowledgement and Gaara did the same.

"Ehm, Naruto-san, I think Yagura-san needs air." Naruto blinked and indeed realized that he had been probably too eager with his demonstration of affection, if the color of Yagura's face was any indication. He let go of him and apologized while rubbing the back of his head, before turning to Fu.

"I'm happy to see you to, Fu-chan." The simple comment got a flush as a reply.

"Ahahah... Ahh... You're welcome, gut... I mean, Naruto-san!" The jinchuuriki corrected herself, noticing her own slip, much to Yugito's annoyance.

"Honestly, how dumb can you be to not notice cutting off someone's air supply?" Yugito commented, intending on reprimanding Naruto for his behaviour, only to meet a blank look. He didn't know what air supply meant. "... Nevermind."

"Ehm, a pleasure to meet you again, Yugito-san." Gaara saluted, only for the Kunoichi to spare him and Naruto a brief glance and then turn around again, much to the redhead's discomfort. He whispered into Naruto's ear. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, I don't think so..." Naruto replied, scratching the top of his head. After all, Yagura was regaining colour already.

"Alright, settle down, boys." Two sets of footsteps approached the group from what seemed like a cave in the side of the mountain, after climbing up another set of rock stairs. Naruto grinned and started waving at the approaching figures of Roshi and Han.

"Hi, guys!" The blonde saluted and Han raised a hand, while Roshi just walked to them and started examining them with a critical eye, from head to toe. After a few glances, the old Jinchuuriki focused on Naruto, who was starting to feel confused. "Ehm, Roshi-jii-san? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong... I was just checking something... And I noticed that you've been doing my routine daily ever since the last day we met, huh, Naruto? Pretty constant, admirable." Roshi straightened himself and smirked, while the leaf container blushed in embarrassment, not really used to people praising him.

"Ehm... Thanks, jii-san." Roshi just nodded and then turned to the whole delegation.

"Well, the Anbu from Kumo are waiting for us inside the cave. That's where you will be staying, children. After last year's... Incident..." Gaara, Naruto and Yagura exchanged a fleeting glance. "Kumo decided that it was best for you to reside in a more secluded space, for your safety."

"Or to better trap them inside." Han commented out loud, voicing his concern at the obvious weakness of living quarters situated in a set of caves.

"Yeah, that too... Come on, we're going to have a little tour before letting you settle in."

-Breakline-

"Waah, fireflies! Look!"

"But... Isn't it too cold for them up here?"

"I guess not. They're so pretty..." _Ohhh, it's just like that scene where the gutsy ninja is alone with the princess and..."_ Fu glanced in Naruto's direction and blushed, turning the other way almost immediately. By now Yugito had understood what was going on with Fu, and every time it happened, one of her eyebrows twitched.

The other Jinchuuriki, minus the missing senior ones, were more focused on the strangely clean sky and open air above the lake, letting them witness either the spectacle of the fireflies or the bright stars in the night sky.

"Waah... I've never seen the stars so bright... Is it because we're so high, Yu-chan? We're surely higher than Konoha." Naruto asked, earning a surprised look and a frown from Yugito. Upon noticing, the spiky blonde just shrugged his shoulders. "Fu-chan and Yu-chan."

"Yugito. Not Yu-chan." Yugito remarked, before raising her head to the stars as well. "Yes, it's because we're so high, and also because there are no artificial lights around. They brighten up the sky and make more difficult for stars to be seen."

"They make shapes." Yagura stated, using his right index finger to unite various stars in the sky to make the shapes he was picturing in his mind.

"Yes. They're called constellations. If I remember correctly..." Utakata brought a hand to his chin and acquired a thoughtful look. "They are divided in three... Enclosures and twenty-eight mansions. The mansions make up four bigger constellations..."

"The four symbols." Everyone turned to Gaara, since he had been the one to talk, and who had just now raised his head to the sky to watch the stars, having focused mostly on the fireflies. After all, you had no way of seeing fireflies in a desert. "They're representations of four mythological figures, four guardian spirits, one for each of the cardinal points, but we can see only one for each season. The three enclosures, instead, are visible all year long. They're called Purple Forbidden, Supreme Palace and Heavenly Market enclosure."

Gaara stared and sighed, since the night sky was more of a companion than he himself wished. Then, he noticed that no one was talking. He turned to the right and saw that everyone was staring at him. "W-What is it?"

"... Wow! You know a lot about stars, Gaara!" Naruto exclaimed, making the redhead blush from the praise. "Four guardian spirits? Tell us more, please!"

"Yeah, it's pretty interesting." Fu pressed on Gaara as well, much to the suna jinchuuriki's embarrassment.

"Ehm... Well... Now it's summer, so..." Gaara raised an arm and pointed at the sky, painting a figure. Naruto and Yagura approached him and followed his motions as he 'painted'. "We're looking at the Vermillion Bird, Suzaku. It represents the element of fire, the season of summer and the direction south."

"What about the others?" Utakata asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest and trying to picture the constellation on his own.

"Well, there's the Azure Dragon, Seiryuu. It represents spring, the east and the element of wood." Gaara brought out a hand and started counting. "The Black Tortoise, Genbu, is north, winter and water. Then the White Tiger, Byakko. It's west, autumn and the element of metal."

"Metal? They're not shinobi elements..." Fu commented, and Gaara nodded.

"No, they're not. They're an elemental classification called... Wu Xing. It's different." The redhead explained, and at this point, Yugito just had to ask.

"How do you know this much about stars?" She asked, and Gaara lowered his head a little.

"Well, when you can't sleep well at night, looking at stars is one of the only things you can do... So, I ended up wanting to learn more about them." Hearing that, Yugito suddenly felt guilty for asking.

"So... What's at the center?" Naruto asked out of the blue, and this time the attention was all on him. "You said that there's one for every direction, so what's at the center? The center can't be unprotected!"

"Ah... Ahahahah..." Gaara laughed genuinely at Naruto's words, and Yugito was secretly thankful. "At the center... There's Huang Long, the golden dragon. He makes the season change, and his element is earth."

"Cool... A golden dragon..." Naruto said, staring in awe at an imprecise point in the sky, trying to find the center. "Hey, wait. If the other four are all in the sky, maybe the center it's where we are!"

"Yeah, probably... Also, there's a part of the sky that we can't see from where we are, but people in other countries, more at south, can... And then, of course, there's the moon." That earned a chuckle from some of his friends. Naruto sighed and let himself fall to the ground, on his back. "The moon decides which constellations show and which do not."

"Man... I wish Kirabi-nii-san was here... He would have loved this..." Naruto turned his head to Yugito again. "Is there any chance that he could come... I don't know, to visit?"

"No, I don't think so." Yugito replied, a bit softer this time, still mindful of the unwanted incident from before. "Kirabi is very busy now that he's a genin, and even if he didn't have a mission, he can't just leave the village like that..."

-Breakline-

"Gonna go meet my maties, yo. I'll see you when I get back, yo. Signed, Kirabi, yo." The secretary winced as she observed A, the Raikage, crush yet another desk under his fist.

"... WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT LITTLE..."

-Breakline-

"Well, welcome back I guess, guys. Ready for a new routine?" Roshi said and a few of the youngsters present groaned, while Han chuckled. "Seems like just Naruto took the habit of doing the old one daily, and it shows. I can't blame you, though. He was the only one without a style, while all of you had already been put on a particular training regimen."

"Really? It shows?" Naruto blinked, confused. Roshi nodded.

"Indeed. Now you're but a young boy, but if you keep on training daily with my training regimens, your body will acquire a particular build." The older jinchuuriki then turned to his second in command. "Han, what do we have prepared for our young ones, today?"

"This time, sadly, we don't have forests where to run, and most of you don't know how to walk on water yet." Naruto could swear he had seen Fu breath out in relief. "So, that leaves swimming and climbing."

"Swimming and climbing?" Utakata commented, as he watched Han point at the water and the shore on the other side, which then sported an higher peak than the one inside which their living quarters were situated.

"You're going to have to swim to the other side of the lake and then climb that peak to its top." Roshi picked out a scroll, opened it and in a puff of smoke a set of various bathing suits appeared. "Here are some swimming suits. Change into them and then get back here."

"... Swimming." Yugito muttered under her breath, clearly annoyed as she and Fu retreated into the cave, followed suit by the others, each in a room, Naruto ecstatic that his swimming trunks were orange. In a few minutes, they were all back outside.

"So, get into the water. We'll check on you while you do." Han and Roshi began to walk on the surface as the younger jinchuuriki began to enter the water, Yugito being the last one, carefully dipping first a foot and then slowly her whole body.

"Hmmm... Jiji, do we have to run or what?" Naruto asked, and Roshi smiled.

"Oh, you can set your own pace. Only..." That's when the water rippled and something emerged. Naruto, being at the front of the small group, was the one who found himself the closest to the biggest teeth he had ever seen, divided in three rows that now he couldn't see since the huge grey shark with dark blue stripes sporting a kiri headband over his head was currently grinning at them. "If you go too slow, you'll get eaten." The young Jinchuuriki could do nothing but stare.

"Hello." He said. The group screamed as one and then began to swim ahead, ninja shark in tow. "Ahhh, you won't get away, my little morsels! Zanzanzanzanzanzanzanzan..."

"A SHARK! IT'S A SHAAAAAAAAAAAAARK! AND IT'S HUMMING A SONG WITH JUST TWO NOTES!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?" Naruto was more focused on the fact that Roshi and Han knew fully well about the shark, unlike Gaara who was focusing on the shark itself. Then, Naruto blinked when he saw Yagura swim past them, being at least twice as fast as the others in swimming. "HOW THE HELL CAN HE SWIM SO FAST?"

"Kiri, remember?" Utakata said as he passed them as well, his voice calm but his face showing that he still shared the sheer terror.

-Breakline-

"Alright, compliments on not getting eaten by the ninja shark and on managing to climb up here with your bare hands." Most people were panting, while Naruto was still thinking of the scare he had gotten. It was a sight to behold as he got out of the water and immediately started climbing the cliff without even pausing to rest like the others.

In the end, the top of the cliff was pretty bare apart for a large three that provided them with shade. Han suddenly pulled out something from his armour, and Naruto recognized it for a set of ropes. He started to tie them to the tree and the other end around their waists.

"Ehm, what are these ropes for?" Fu asked as Han tightened her own one a bit too tightly for her taste.

"For the next part of your training. We've been working on your endurance and speed, now it's time for agility." Roshi explained as he checked the ropes' length, ensuring that they weren't longer than a certain measure. Then, he glanced at Han and the five-tails' container nodded and kicked the tree hard, then the two older jinchuuriki jumped off the cliff and landed on a lower ledge. "If you want to survive, you'll have to dodge all the enemy attacks!"

"Enemy attacks?" Yugito repeated, not sensing nor seeing anything dangerous around. Then her years caught a strange noise that kept getting stronger and stronger, coming from the tree. A buzzing sound, like a swarm of... "BEES!"

"Uh? Nii-san?"

"NO, YOU DOLT!" Naruto, Gaara and Fu screamed again as they saw the swarm of bees get out of the tree and starting to span out in various directions, stings first.

"Didn't the retired Tsuchikage ban this training because they were deemed too dangerous even for us?" Han commented as the two heard screams and howls of pains every once in a while. Roshi just lighted himself one more cigar.

"We're not in Iwa, are we?" The four-tails answered, earning a groan from his younger colleague. "Also, they work. I was quite surprised to see that Naruto had kept it up all year long without anyone telling him, though."

"With how young he is and the fact that he didn't know about being a container, I assume that it was the first time everyone gave him any kind of interest or attention." Han crossed his arms and looked at the sky, seeing a bee flying past them as it had been swatted away before going back in attacking formation. "While this probably scares him and will hurt like for a while, I bet that when he goes back home, he will search for a lake and a tree with bees."

"Heh... The next year we're probably going to hold the camp in Iwa. It will be funny seeing him plough through fields barehanded." Han palmed his forehead. "Also, about that other thing... Tonight?"

"It should be fine, yes. I'll distract the two Konoha Anbu... And I'll make sure they don't hear you." Saying that, a whiff of steam shot out of Han's armour.

-Breakline-

"Argh... Are you sure that was the last sting, nii-san?"

"Yeah, I'm sure." Itachi said, his smile a little strained as he observed the poor shape of a stung all over Naruto. Out of all the children, Naruto and Gaara had been the one who had been stung the most, because they both had not been trained in dodging, for different reasons: Naruto because he had never been trained, point, Gaara because thanks to his sand, he was positive that in the future he wouldn't need to dodge anything.

"Owie... I need to train more... And I have to go through that every morning?" The blonde shuddered, and Itachi was thankful that the iwa jinchuuriki had prepared a good dose of antidote for the bees' poison.

"Such's the life of a ninja. Sometimes, you have to push yourself to the limits... Even of sanity, it seems." Itachi sighed and then patted Naruto on the head affectionately. "But don't overdo it, alright? If you feel like it gets too much for you, just say so."

"Nah, it's not too much. It's just a pain in the ass... And the arms... And everything else." Naruto winced as he felt a particularly vicious spot pulse in pain right under his lower lip. Itachi chuckled and waved slightly at Naruto before disappearing from the room, leaving him with a sleeping Gaara. "He's sleeping so soundly? But I thought he..."

"If the demon took control of him right now, he would experience the pain of each and every sting on his body." Naruto blinked as a new voice suddenly echoed from over his shoulders. He turned back to see Roshi standing in the middle of the room. "The Ichibi is crazy, but not stupid."

"If you say so... What are you doing here, Roshi-sensei?" The older man chuckled at the honorific then smiled fondly, before sitting on Naruto's bed.

"Naruto... I know for a fact that you're an orphan, right?" The blonde jinchuuriki was confused at the sudden argument proposed but he nodded.

"Yeah, but... I wonder..." Naruto muttered, earning Roshi's full attention. "I mean, Gaara isn't an orphan... Even if his mother died, he knows about her... And look how well that turned out. Also, a girl I know back home..." The older container nodded, understanding what Naruto meant. "More about who they were... I wonder about what kind of people they were."

"Hmm... I think you're gonna rethink that, in a few minutes." Naruto blinked and raised his gaze from the floor to turn it back to Roshi who was in the process of rolling himself a cigar, when he remembered they were in a closed environment. "Naruto, you see... Last year, when you got hurt because of the attempt on the life of Gaara... I took a bit of your blood, to analyse it."

"Analyse... My blood?" Naruto mouthed the words, not really understanding the implications of such a gesture.

"You see... By analysing a part of someone's body, you can read his dna, that it's like... A signature. A signature that is unique to that person, and can tell lots of things about him." The leaf student was able to follow Roshi if the thing was explained to him like this, and he nodded. "If he's healthy, if he smokes, his age... And most importantly, the people he's related to."

"Eh? Then..." Naruto wasn't intelligent as in not on a genius level, but he was smart, able to catch the small details if they were presented to him and combine them. His eyes widened. "You... You found out who my parents were?"

"Yeah. I know. Only... Are you sure you want to know, Naruto?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I want to know!"

"Naruto, listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you." The rapid exchange got interrupted with that sentence, that prompted Naruto to calm himself down and listen closely as Roshi said. "Yes, we've discovered who your parents were, but the implications... I mean, knowing who your parents were will consequently make you know and understand a few other things... Some not very pleasant."

"Not very... W-What are you talking about?" Naruto was starting to sink back onto his bed as he felt himself starting to sweat and feeling uneasy under the hard stare of Roshi, who was for the first time since Naruto met him, deadly serious.

"Naruto... What would you think of Konoha? Of your village, of your home... If you knew that they had been telling you lies ever since the day you were born?" Naruto's eyes went wide. "What would you think if you knew that the people closest to you had been withholding from you the truth about your parents, after withholding the truth about your status as a container? That they have, on purpose, stopped you from getting foster ones?"

"... That..."

"If knowing who your parents were would mean this and more... Would you still want to know?" Roshi finished, and the room was suddenly permeated with a very heavy silence, so heavy that Naruto felt it on top of the perspiration that now donned his skin.

All those things that Roshi had said sounded really, really awful. If this Naruto had been different, a bit more loyal to Konoha, he would have had second thoughts, but this Naruto's best friend lived in Suna, his other friends lived in different countries around the world, this Naruto had only one friend in all of Konoha who was mistreated by her own parents.

This Naruto had no second thoughts. He was starving for an identity, something to identify himself with. An heritage, even something that implied all those bad things, sounded good to him. "I want... I want to know. I want to know about my dad... And my mom."

"... Very well." Roshi pulled out something out from behind his back, a brown envelope that he opened in front of Naruto on his bed, letting documents and most importantly pictures falling out of them. "Your father was..."

-Breakline-

"It's a shame Jiraiya-sama never wrote a sequel, right?"

"Yeah... From what I heard, the book didn't sell well." Yugito narrowed her eyes at the wall, while she imagined the collective of every person who didn't like the book. Then, she remembered she had been stung right above the left eyebrow. "Damn, good thing they had a salve, or these things would burn a lot more."

"You're incredible, Yugito-chan... You've only gotten stung twice." Fu said, observing the most uncovered body of her room-mate, which presented just two stings, one on her forehead and the other on her right tight.

"Hmm... Well, I cheated a little, I must admit." Saying that, Yugito focused her chakra around her palm, which got suddenly covered in a thin dark blue layer of chakra. "I bet you've noticed a lot of burned bees around my feet once Han made the others retreat back, right?"

"Yeah, I did... But I saw no flashes of fire nor anything else... It has something to do with your bijuu? The nibi?" Yugito nodded and then observed Fu's body as she got undressed to get into her pyjamas.

"Well... I see you cheated a little too." While Fu had gotten stung almost as bad as Naruto and Gaara, who were the ones who had gotten out of the whole ordeal worse than anyone else, her stings were already disappeared, just a couple of red spots remaining because they hadn't been that bad in the beginning. While all the others' stings had turned into large red bumps, Fu's ones had just produced small red spots and the bee's stings hadn't even stuck.

"Hehe... Not on purpose, though. It's a side effect of the Nanabi. They say that by the time I hit puberty, I will not have to worry about anything that's not imbued with chakra." Fu scratched the back of her head and stuck out her tongue, blushing at her own praise.

"That's pretty hard skin." Yugito said, slightly in awe... And then realized that she shouldn't be doing this, that Fu had just told her a big secret. "Why did you just tell me that? I mean, that's a pretty big advantage over your enemies."

"I know, they told me lots of times. But you're my friend, Yugito, right?" Fu said, a bit confused by her fellow reader's words who then stared at her like a deer stares at a gun. Then she bit her lower lip and lowered her head.

"Yeah... That's true..." Yugito inwardly cursed as she got off her bed and got dressed again. "I'm going for a walk."

"Uh? Alright..." Fu stared in confusion at Yugito as she crossed the room and closed the door behind her, silently but firmly, which startled the green haired Jinchuuriki a bit. "Did I say something wrong?"

-Breakline-

"This is wrong... Good thing this is the last year for me..." Yugito muttered as she walked out of the caves and near the shore, feeling upset by the conflicting feelings in her mind. Fu were right, they were friends, the Nanabi jinchuuriki was the only friend the future kumo kunoichi had, but they shouldn't be.

She had seen too much to believe that this whole joined camp was anything else than a show or worse, another little war. She was certain that most if not all the ANBU surveying them were reporting back about them to their villages. A war of intelligence. The point was that they were from different villages and on top of that, they were Jinchuuriki, created with the intention of using them as weapons... Against other weapons. Yugito was sure that sometime in the future, two or more of them would fight each other.

"... We can't be friends." Yugito repeated to herself like a mantra, trying to clear her mind and probably to persuade herself. Then, noticing what predicament she had put herself into, she sneered, disgusted at herself. "I'm pathetic..."

"At least you know who you are." She almost tripped. So self-absorbed with herself she was, she had walked to the shore and hadn't even noticed Naruto, sitting on the shore, hugging his own legs to the chest.

"Na-Naruto... I didn't see you there." She received no reply, as if she had never talked. Naruto was simply ignoring her. That wasn't like him, from what little she knew about the konoha resident. His posture, the tone of his voice... He seemed sad. "... What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"... Half an hour ago, I discovered who my parents were." Naruto declared, with Yugito keeping her distance and staring at his back. She caught the grip Naruto had on his own legs tightening. "I also discovered that... They all knew. And nobody told me. Not even... The ones who were supposed to be my friends."

"... And why?" Yugito inquired as she sat beside Naruto who seemed to gaze at nothing or his reflection in the water, either of the two.

"I don't know... Roshi-sensei told me that it was because my dad had many enemies, and that it could put me in danger... And that they couldn't have me adopted because of the same reason... But that doesn't make any sense." The blonde's tone took a tinge of anger in those last words. "Because... If they did that to protect me... Because they didn't want people to know... Then why did they tell the whole village about the Kyuubi?"

"... They told the whole village?"

"Roshi sensei told me... That Sandaime-jiisan told the whole village in a ceremony that I contained the Kyuubi... Because they wanted them to see me as a hero..." Naruto started to tremble, if in anger or in sadness, Yugito couldn't tell. "Roshi-sensei said that it was the stupidest thing he had ever heard someone doing, and I can't say I don't agree with him..."

"Me neither..." Yugito admitted, truthfully. Her own status had been discovered by words passed around. At the beginning, only the highest ranking ninjas knew, and even when word got around with Yugito starting to train and experiment with her bijuu's power, the thing was somewhat guarded, no one went out of their way to tell other people about it. That a Kage would hold a public ceremony to announce it after the village had been almost destroyed by the same beast was unbelievable.

Little did they know that the fact that Naruto was to be viewed as a hero was a late wish of Naruto's father, and that would bring some to guess who was the more naïve of the two fire shadows. "So, now I wonder... I mean, my dream was to become Hokage... But now, I don't care much for it anymore. I wanted to become Hokage so that I could be acknowledged, but then I found out just how easy that is if you don't live in Konoha. You people acknowledged my existence just by looking at me... So, what do I have left?"

"... Your village." Yugito replied immediately, which caused Naruto to sharply turn his head in her direction. "I heard what you just said, but what about it? You just have it a bit worse than others, but the fact remains that it's not like you were supposed to have a choice in the first place."

"W-What are you saying?" Yugito was suddenly glad that she had found Naruto, since it was a good occasion for her to reaffirm her resolve by speaking it out loud to someone else than Fu, who she just didn't have the heart to break in to cruel reality yet.

"We get our demons sealed with the intent to become human weapons. Nothing more, nothing less. That very fact precludes us to search for any other purpose in life than being one, since the only thing we are left with is our duty." Yugito continued, standing up again and brushing her legs. "There's no use fighting against it so just embrace it."

"The point is, my village never wanted to do anything with me, otherwise they would have told me and trained me, no? What am I supposed to embrace? Nothingness?" That made Yugito froze, since it basically broke all her plans to deliver a speech.

"... Whatever. The point is, as long as you're a container, you will have no choice but fight. Be it for your life or your village, you will be made to fight. And probably, you will fight one of us too, in the future." That prospect made horror surface on Naruto's expression, making him stand up. "Human weapons against human weapons. I think this is the first time ever all the bijuus have been sealed in a human being at the same time, and be assured... They're gonna use us. You have a choice it seems, but it's an illusion. Even if you don't become a ninja someone is gonna come for you, sooner or later, and that someone could be..."

"Stop!" Naruto covered his ears and turned around, not wanting to hear more of what the older container was telling him. "W-Why are you being so mean? Why are you saying all those terrible things?"

"Because it's the truth! This camp is just a little show put on by the villages to appear peaceful! The truth is that all the people in here sooner or later will become enemies! We belong to different villages, it's inevitable!" Yugito counter-shouted and Naruto shook his head and turned his head towards the ash blonde girl, his eyes on the verge of tears and narrowed at her.

"So, you're saying... That if they ordered you to fight and kill Fu-chan, you would do it?" That question, Yugito didn't expect, if her eyes widening were any indication. She bit her lip and lowered her head, and silence reigned for a while.

"... Yes." Naruto just narrowed his eyes at her even more and rubbed them with the back of his hand to clear them from any incoming tears.

"... You're the worst, Yugito." He walked past her, not so subtly bumping into her body as he did so, while a person watched them from the top of the mountain on their little island.

_I guess it was to be expected... It's another thing we'll have to correct._

-Breakline-

"N-Nee-chan... How much longer do I need to do this?"

"A few seconds more." Ami gritted her teeth but obeyed nonetheless, even if she was really starting to feel the effects of that exercise. She had been molding and holding in shape chakra for more than half an hour, and she was starting to feel burning from inside her own arms.

Little did she know that was the effect of holding chakra inside your body once properly formed for too long. Yugao had been impressed by her younger sister's resistance as she observed the chakra and the reactions the seal she had impressed on her forehead gave out. "... Alright Ami, you can stop now."

"Ahhh!" Ami cried out as she let go of the chakra she had created, which flew out of her body in a blue flash of light, leaving her panting, holding herself off the ground with her hands and knees only. Yugao leaned her palm on her forehead and removed the seal. "Ah... Ahh... Now... Can you tell me..."

"You will need a bit of theory, first." Ami groaned, not really in the mood for learning while being that tired, but she knew Yugao wouldn't expect anything but her full attention. Her sister was a slavedriver like that. "Do you know why most ninjas at a certain point in their growth start specializing their techniques and training?"

"Because... Because each person has its own strengths... I mean, some ninja are good at certain things while they suck at others, and viceversa..." Ami panted out her reply between ragged breaths. "I mean... Why train yourself in something you cannot be good at when you can train into something you can become very good at?"

"Exactly. For a ninjas, these characteristics are their ability to control chakra, its quantity, their resistance, their bodies... Many others. The one I focused on discovering with that exercise though, was another, subtler, less known one." Yugao made her sit, knowing that it would be easier for her to regain her breath that way. "Do you know how chakra is made?"

"Yeah... They taught us this year... You mold physical and spiritual energies... Together..." Ami's breath was almost back to normal and Yugao nodded in acknowledgement of the correct answer.

"Yes. Only, there's something that they don't teach you in the academy." Ami's focused her gaze on her sister's eyes. "To tell the truth, most ninjas go through their careers without knowing this. Mostly because it's irrelevant to most."

"What... What is it?"

"Not everyone shape their chakra in the same way." Yugao replied, pausing a few instants to let the words sink in. "They teach you that to mold chakra, you have to perfectly balance physical and spiritual energies, but not everyone can do that. Most people never realize this, but the reason some people are more adept at genjutsu it's because they mold chakra more with spiritual than physical energy, and viceversa for taijutsu."

"Ah... So, what you were checking with that seal..." Ami instinctively brought a hand to her forehead.

"Yes. It seems you have a strong disposition towards molding chakra with more physical than spiritual energy, and that's not only because being a seven years old you haven't put in that much training yet. Your chakra is almost pure physical energy." The small student frowned at that, but Yugao just chuckled. "Now, you might be asking yourself, why I did this? It's because... Well, let's say I'm about to enter you into a special training program still under development by the Anbu."

"... Say what?"

-Breakline-

"Naruto seems to be making progresses. I mean, the stings number only in the double digits, now."

"And Gaara seems to have developed a new way of manipulating his sand." Indeed, if down along the years someone would ask Gaara how and why he developed the armour of sand, he would feign of it having been the result of weeks of thinking about possible ways of protecting himself in case an enemy faster than the shield of sand would ever appear, while it was just fast thinking on how to protect himself from the numerous bees.

"Hmm... Still, there's something with Naruto..." Han observed as Naruto instead of just dodging the bees, had started squishing a few that wandered too near his feet as well. Overall, his mood wasn't as Roshi and Han had foretold at all. The revelations about his heritage were supposed to sadden him at most, but piss him off? That was because of something else. The big jinchuuriki suddenly clapped his hands, signalling the end of the exercise as he expelled a cloud of steam from his armour that made all the bees go back into their home. "Alright. It's enough, for today. Good work, everyone!"

"... Finally!" Fu shouted out to the heavens, falling on her butt. Even if the stings couldn't get deep in her skin, it still was a very fastidious things to be stung by all those bees at the same time. "Now, lunch and then a bath! We're gonna catch lots of fish today, right, Yugi... Yugito?" Fu was calling out to her friend, only to find her already going down the steps, completely ignoring her. "Did... Did I say something wrong?"

"... I can't believe this..." Naruto muttered under his breath, much to Gaara's confusion.

-Breakline-

"Yugito, did you..."

"I'm going out to train." Again, Yugito ignored her room-mate and friend's words, leaving behind a sad Fu, who just couldn't understand what had happened in less than twentyfour hours to make her best friend dislike her so.

On her part, Yugito was feeling like someone stabbed her in the stomach each time she gave Fu the cold shoulder, but she kept on repeating to herself that there was no helping it, that otherwise in the future it could be worse. She would feel worse. She had to force herself to acquire the mentality of a ninja again.

"Nii Yugito." The young kunoichi to be stopped dead in her tracks and turned around, her stance one ready for fighting, before she noticed that she had just laid eyes on an ANBU from Kumo. She recomposed herself and bowed.

"I'm sorry... You startled me." Then, she realized something. She had seen the two ANBU that had been assigned to survey her, and she was certain that this one wasn't one of them. "... Who are you? You're not a member of my escort."

"Very observant, young lady. It just goes to show why so many people expect great things from you." Yugito blushed at the praise, even if it came from a stranger who she was still wary of. "That is also the reason why we decided to test you."

"Huh? Test me?" She said, confused about the mention of a test. Her promotion to Genin was assured, and the test would take place in the first week of September.

"Yes. It's a different test from the genin one, but it's even more important to your future. It's a test about your loyalty and your devotion to the village." Those words clearly had an effect on the young girl, the dilemma she was having earlier still so fresh in her mind. She stared at the ANBU, her whole body stiff as in determination. "I will bring you the details of the mission tomorrow night... Of course, if you do accept."

"Of course I accept." Yugito replied immediately, her eyes narrowing instinctively at the ANBU. "My life is... For the village to use."

"... A good choice. You will make a fine weapon, Nii Yugito." That said, the adult ninja disappeared in thin air, and Yugito found that she could breath again. Now she had something to focus on, to help take her mind off just how coldly she would have to be treating Fu. Her resolve settled, and eager to receive the details of the mission the following night, she retreated into the caves.

"... Strange." Unknown to her and her interlocutor, a ninja not much older than herself but that had the same rank as the person who had just told her about this mission, had observed the whole thing, with a vision exclusive to him. Munching away on a stick of pocky, he thought about the implications of such a meeting, since his eyes had revealed something that the young girl ignored. "... I will leave this alone... For the moment."

After all, Uchiha Itachi was, if anything, patient. He wanted to have the full picture before deciding on a course of action.

-Breakline-

"And then, and then she said that she would!" Gaara, having noticed Naruto's distress and the burning glares he had been directing all day long at Yugito, had no choice but to ask his best friend what had caused his distress. Now that he knew, he probably would have preferred not to have had to. "She's the worst! The worst! I... Gaara?"

"... Naruto." Naruto had stopped his rant when he heard the redhead calling his name. Turning around, he immediately noticed Gaara's downcast gaze.

"What is it?" The blonde sat down beside his friend on his bed, jumping off his other one and landing in one move.

"She's right." Those words made Naruto's heart sink and the blonde boy stare at his friend like he had grown wings. "I mean... We're going to become ninja, and..."

"So what?" Naruto erupted, and he saw that his anger had made Gaara flinch. "Ah! I'm... I'm sorry..." He settled down, turning his gaze to the floor again. "... It's just..."

"What if we have to fight against each other, Naruto? What then?" The redhead pressed on, the thought of having to fight his best friend to the death, even just the hypothesis of it, making him sick. "I... I don't want that to happen..."

"... This sucks." Naruto said, grimacing. He didn't really have an answer to that, if not that he didn't want to do that either. He knew that sometimes ninja fought each other, he had learned that much in his first year, but he had never really thought about having to fight someone he considered a friend.

"Don't fight." A third, familiar voice, suddenly broke the heavy silence that had suddenly been born in the room. The two room-mates turned to the door to find Yagura standing under its arc, closing slowly the door behind him. "If you don't want to fight... Then don't fight."

"But... I mean..." Gaara swallowed and then looked at his dangling feet again. "Ninjas who don't follow orders... They're punished, right? I..."

"So what?" Yagura continued, earning the attention of both of his older friends, finding themselves staring into his eyes, finding a fire, a determination, a resolve... Something that should have no place into the eyes of someone so young, but both Yagura and Utakata had been forced to grow too much too early.

Kiri was known as the village of the bloody mist for a reason. Many children saw things that they shouldn't see just by walking the streets in the days of the bloodline purges, and the two Jinchuuriki had been reliving a bit of that because of their status as living weapons. The doctrines and techniques they had to be thought weren't something that they could learn by studying only.

"If you're strong enough... No one can tell you what to do." The little boy continued, staring right back at his friends. "No one can hurt you."

"... What are you saying?" The Konoha Jinchuuriki asked, a bit unnerved by Yagura's words. The young shinobi to be just fell silent and walked to Gaara's bed, sitting on Naruto's right. "... Yagura?"

"When I'm strong enough..." After that, Yagura fell completely silent, leaving again the three containers with only their thoughts to keep them company, nobody noticing that Utakata hadn't just left after bringing Yagura to the two best friends' room and listening to Naruto's outburst. He had just walked past the nearby intersection and stayed to listen to the rest of the conversation. He slipped his pipe out of his mouth and placed it back in his sash. "... Strong enough, huh?"

Being the fourth, unknown person to listen to Yagura's words and to be left to reflect on them, he then left his hiding place and headed back to his room. The question that everyone shared though, was, how strong was strong enough?

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Something's been happening in the past days." Han commented as the two observed their protects once again working with the bee-hive exercise, noticing how everyone seemed to have find his own way to deal with the insect attack.

Gaara was stable and confident with his sand armour, and was the only one who hadn't been stung once thanks to his strategy. Even in battle it would serve him well, until he started to run out of chakra, that is. They had been at that exercise for a while now, and holding all that sand in the shape of an armour consumed a lot of energy.

Yugito came in second place. They didn't know exactly what kind of abilities possessing the Niibi implied, but even if the girl possessed enough control to use so little chakra to the point of making the layer covering her body invisible, they didn't miss the tiny blue flames that sparked every time a bee came in contact with her body.

Utakata used a similar tactic as the kumo girl, and it was more noticeable. Every time a bee came into a certain range, a bubble shot out from the semi-transparent layer covering his body, trapping the insect before exploding. Though, it wasn't as fast nor as precise as Yugito's own tactic.

From a trio who focused on blocking attacks, they moved to the remaining three who focused on dodging, alias Fu, Yagura and Naruto. The three kids didn't have any particular kind of technique that could focus on blocking attack, and so they just focused on dodging the bees, the original intent of the exercise, with mixed results. The one who was peculiar even in this was Naruto, who had taken to also counter-attacking the bees' attacks when he could, swatting, punching, or stomping them into the ground.

But it wasn't the exercise routines that now worried the second eldest Jinchuuriki. It was the young ones' attitudes. Everyone seemed to have something on their mind, something that, in the case of Gaara and Fu, made them also miserable with the latter of the two sending many glances in the direction of the two-tails. Yugito instead was focused, her eyes possessing the sharpness of a blade as she went on with the exercise.

"And yet... I have a feeling that it's all connected." The five-tails continued, earning a nod from Roshi.

"I guess it is... We'll know soon enough, though." Roshi commented, rubbing his beard in thought as usual.

-Breakline-

Yugito hadn't gotten any further details regarding the next meeting with the Kumo ANBU, but she guessed that getting out of her room at the same hour and heading to the same spot would suffice. She wasn't wrong.

"You guessed the details of the next meeting on your own. Logical, but still, a good work." The masked man said again. Nii only bowed slightly to acknowledge the words as a compliment. "So, it's time to tell you about the details of your mission."

"Yes." Yugito nodded.

"You must know... That the current balance of the ninja world is very feeble." The ANBU started with something that didn't really concern the mission itself, but she guessed that they wanted her to know about the background that caused the mission to be requested in the first place. "After the last great ninja war, the balance shifted so that the five great villages emerged victorious again and on a similar level of power. It's that balance that prevents another war from breaking out."

"... They taught us that in the academy." Yugito commented.

"Yes. What they don't teach is that the five villages are to always be on the lookout for anything threatening to disrupt this delicate equilibrium, any sudden rises in power, to keep alive the current stalemate. That includes the growth of minor villages past a certain level of importance." Yugito just kept on listening in silence. "Recently, one such village has shown a worrying increase in power, quality of their ninjas and consequently in requested missions and income."

"What village?"

"The Waterfall village." The container couldn't stop her eyes from widening slightly, gears starting to turn into her head despite herself. "As you know, their rise has been so significant that it has guaranteed the presence of the village's leader at a table with the five Kage."

"... This..." Yugito tried to ask more clearance, but the older ninja immediately cut her off.

"One of the most worrying things is the fact that they managed to find the long-lost Nanabi and create a functional Jinchuuriki. That has been the turning point for their growth in notoriety." The man continued, and Yugito's hands started to shake. "The course of action to be taken is easy to come to, being aware of these facts."

"You're... You're asking me to..." The man nodded.

"Good. Your deduction skills are top notch too." The ANBU continued, and Yugito's skin tone was becoming paler and paler with each second's transition. "Your mission is to assassinate the Waterfall Jinchuuriki."

"Fu..." Yugito murmured her room-mate's name with dread and fear.

"Exactly. Your familiarity with the target makes you the perfect executor. You will be granting a great service to your village and the shinobi world in general." Her hands by now weren't the only part of Yugito's body which were trembling.

"But... I mean..." She swallowed, forcing herself to calm down, grabbing her right wrist with her left hand. "I will be discovered. We're guarded by eight ANBU plus the two Iwa Jinchuuriki..."

"I know. There are more ways of elimination than a simple throat-slitting." The older ninja continued. "The plan is for you to bring her in this same spot tomorrow night, at this same hour. The combination creates a hole in the surveillance routines and to be on the safe side I will hide the area with a genjutsu."

"But... If they just find her dead..."

"That's why there will be no body to be found." That shook the young girl even more, if possible. "It will be a good way to experiment the usage of your Jinchuuriki's ability on a human being."

"My... My Aohi..." Yugito gripped her own wrist to the point of digging her nails into it, drawing blood, the wounds sizzling as the chakra of her bijuu immediately started healing them.

"You will bring her here and then dispose of it using your ability and the water." The ANBU finished, before making a single hand-seal and starting to disappear, his voice lingering a bit more than his body. "We know you'll make our village proud... Shinobi."

"... Shi... Shinobi..." As soon as the ANBU disappeared, Yugito fell on all fours, heaving and feeling her dinner about to come back out and say hi to the sand, but she forced it back down, an acid feeling all thorough her throat. "I'm... I'm a Shinobi..."

She repeated like a mantra, her hands grasping the sand and water dropping from the corners of her eyes as she thought of an eager aquamarine haired girl talking happily about the protagonist of her favourite book.

Again, spinning eyes had observed and memorized the entire scene, narrowed in reaction to its implications. "... That's really messed up. How can they... How can they ask of her..." Then, Itachi thought of something else. If he had been in her shoes, what would he do?

-Breakline-

"Hmm..." Naruto's mind was probably one of the two in most turmoil of the whole camp, his young bomb having received two, make that three bombs one after the other in rapid succession. The first had been the revelation about his heritage and about the fact that he was never told while the fact that he was a Jinchuuriki of the demon that almost destroyed the village was told to everyone but himself.

Then there was the matter with Yugito. The Sandaime had told him that it was up to him to make friends with the other Jinchuuriki, that being in the same situation didn't instantly mean to understand each other. He wasn't really sure he wanted to understand and be friends with someone who would go and kill a friend just because she was ordered to.

And finally, there was the fact that the scenario of them fighting in the future had been put on almost everyone's mind. Gaara was positively miserable about it, little Yagura gotten angry and all... All something. Utakata had been thinking most of the time, even when they played 'hunt the fish', which he had showed them last year, he was quite distant. Thought the one he felt most badly for was Fu.

_She's as miserable as Gaara but she only knows that her best friend doesn't want to talk to her anymore._ He cringed, thinking about what he would do if Gaara suddenly decided that he didn't want to talk to him any more, and there was the possibility now that, like Yugito, the redhead had...

"Hi, Naruto." He almost let his bokken fly out of his hands as the sudden apparition startled him. Turning around, clutching his chest as if to stop his hearth from flying out, he laid eyes on Fu, sitting on the ground and hugging her knees to her chest.

"... Fu-chan." Naruto groaned as he tried to regain all the air he had let out with the scare. He expected the girl to continue talking after the greeting, but she just kept her gaze on the sand under her feet.

The blonde container sighed and sat beside her, setting his bokken on his free side. "... Are you alright, Fu-chan?" Of course she wasn't, but he had to open up the conversation some way or the other.

"Nu-huh." She replied simply, and Naruto felt really, really bad for her.

"... Is it because of Yugito?" Fu noticed that Naruto was no longer calling her 'Yu-chan'. She nodded.

"... She doesn't talk to me any more. She doesn't read with me any more... I just... I don't understand. Did I do something bad? I don't think I did something bad..." Fu was a bit more talkative now, but considering how miserable she sounded, Naruto maybe preferred her like she was before.

"... No, I don't think you've done anything wrong, Fu-chan." The blonde shook his head, before narrowing his eyes at the ground. "It's just her being a stupid po..."

"D-Don't say that about her..." Fu cut him off, raising her head from her arms to do so before dropping it again, surprising the Konoha container. "I mean... She's not stupid. She's so smart... I think Yu-chan is the smartest person I've ever met..."

"... Then..." Naruto thought about those words and considered the conversation he had had with the girl a few nights before, she seemed to think about things maybe too much. He groaned. "I guess it's the opposite. She's just too smart for her own good..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto rubbed his chin as he thought about the situation from another point of view. He had done it before for Ami, after all, he could do it for Yugito. If Fu was this miserable, Yugito must be going through the same thing, forcing herself to be bad to her best friend. His anger at the kumo kunoichi-to-be lessened considerably.

"I think Yu-chan is worried if you'll be able to be best friends forever." He explained, with Fu staring at his face all the while. "I mean... This camp thing is going to finish in a few years. When that happens, it's going to be hard to meet each other, because we're from different villages... And what if we'll have to do missions against each other? I would feel really bad if that happened."

"... Then..." Comprehension dawned on Fu at Naruto's words.

"She doesn't want to feel bad about it, I guess... And since this is the last year when she'll be at camp, she wants to...!" Naruto never got to finish his sentence as Fu suddenly latched her arms around him, the older girl hugging him as tightly as possible, much to Naruto's blushing.

"Thanks, Naruto... Thanks thanks thanks!" She released him and then scampered back in a hurry to the caves, leaving a flustered Naruto behind. The young Konoha citizen slowly brought a hand to his face and then to his chest, feeling his little heart beating fast. He could still feel her warmth and the feeling of her hug, and it wouldn't go away any time soon. It was the first time in his life someone hugged him that tightly. Ami had been the first one to do so, when he left for that year's camp, but nobody had hugged him that affectionately before Fu.

"... It was..." That day, Naruto decided that he liked hugs a lot.

-Breakline-

"I... I can..." Yugito had been again, avoiding Fu all day long, but for another reason. If before it was because she wanted to cut all ties with the waterfall Jinchuuriki, now it was because she didn't want to meet her, to have an excuse to not carry out her mission. She couldn't see her target, so she couldn't do it. If they passed the appointed time, it would all be okay. "I can avoid..."

"Yu-chan!" Her hearth sank in her stomach as a cheerful, too cheerful voice suddenly echoed in the air of their room. She had been careless, too careless. She should have heard her coming, her steps, her breath, something. "I finally found you!"

"F-Fu..." Yugito let out like the last word of an agonizing death-row inmate as she turned around to meet the once again cheerful face of the dark-skinned girl.

"It's me!" What had happened? Why was she so cheerful? Why wasn't she as miserable as her? What had happened in a single day? Why her heart felt like someone was clenching it with both hands, trying to squeeze it to her death? Fu seemed to ignore her distress of she was just that good at hiding it as she sat beside Yugito. "I haven't seen you all day but during training and eating! What were you doing?"

"N-Nothing. Nothing..." She immediately got up and started to walk to the door. "I-I have to go..."

"Yu-chan, wait!" Fu wouldn't have any of that, though. She grabbed onto her right arm and held her in place. Yugito tried to get her arm out of the grip... Only to find that she couldn't. That surprised her.

It wasn't that Fu had used any particular grapple or anything, she had just grabbed on her right forearm with both of her hands. Simply, the strength in Fu's grip was so much that she couldn't even budge her arm out of the grapple. _What... How is this..._

"Yu-chan..." Fu broke her thoughts as she talked again, and Yugito found her no longer smiling, but not sad again. She saw determination, like her mind was set on something and no one would ever be able to dissuade her from it. "I have... I have to talk to you."

"... I..." Yugito bit on her tongue, copper blood flowing out of the small injury freely. She swallowed. "Actually... I wanted to talk to you too."

_To be continued_

_In the next chapter..._

The second year of camp comes to a close as all the Jinchuuriki in the camp plus one or two clandestine get involved in Yugito's ordeal. The result will be something that will change the future of all the people participating, and by reflection, eventually, the world. Stay tuned!


	5. Childhood END

And we can finally get to the bulk of the story. This chapter concludes the babies part of the story. Next chapter, we get to the real business. Of course, most of the story is going to be Naruto centric, so some of the other Jinchuuriki will appear much later on. So... Enjoy the first snippet!

**Leadership**

**Book I, Chapter V: The pledge**

"So... Yeah, she's not that bad... I mean, she probably feels worse than Fu. If she didn't like her, she wouldn't have had to do what she's doing, after all." After returning to his room after dinner, Naruto had found Gaara and started narrating the small conversation he had had with Fu about Yugito, hoping that he would calm him and maybe cheer him up a little.

"I-I see..." Gaara nodded, taking in all the story while he absent-mindedly played with his sand, making it form various shapes, ever-shifting and changing. Every now and then, subconsciously, the sand took the shapes of two figures fighting each other, resembling Gaara and Naruto too much for the redhead's comfort. "... So, she still wants to be her friend."

"Yes. That's the whole point of her recent behaviour... Woah." Naruto suddenly let out an expression of surprise, and that earned Gaara's attention. The blond was staring at his feet as he had just realized something really, really surprising. "Where did I learn those difficult words?"

Gaara stared and then snorted before laughing loudly, falling on his back, much to Naruto's embarassment. He rolled around, and put a hand to his eyes to rub away the tears and then his hand chanced upon the kanji on his forehead. That immediately calmed him down. "Oh..." Friendship. He recalled the day almost an year before when he had voluntarily given himself that scar.

He remembered why he did it and how he felt when he did it. It was to help him remind himself that he would always had a friend in Naruto, no matter what happened along the road and even if they were apart. The thought brought a smile to his face. "... Naruto."

"Yes?" Naruto had observed the whole thing and he liked the fact that now Gaara was smiling at him.

"We'll be best friends forever, right?" The question surprised the blonde, but he grinned nonetheless. He was just seven years old, he didn't know much of the world or of anything else, but he was positive, he felt with every fibre of his being...

"Of course." That no matter what happened or came his way, their way, he and Gaara would always be friends. "And if we ever have to fight each other... We'll think about what to do on the spot, right? I mean, we don't even know if that will really happen!"

"Heheheh, right. It could never happen, too." Thinking about this scene in the years to come, both Naruto and Gaara would smile and then laugh.

"And if it comes to that... I'll be sure to kick your ass!" Then they would get hysterical when they got at this point. At the moment, Gaara just giggled before a knock on their door made itself heard. The two children's heads shot in the direction of the door as one.

"Huh... Come in?" Gaara said tentatively. The door slowly opened revealing the visage of Uchiha Itachi.

"Naruto. Gaara-san. You should come with me." Itachi explained, earning confusion from the two younger boys. "There's something I think you should see."

-Breakline-

"So... What was that all about yesterday, Yagura?" The short boy didn't reply focusing his attention on a nearby potted plant, the leaves twitching every so slightly every few seconds as he kept his gaze on them. "The things you were talking about with Naruto and Gaara."

"Nothing much." He didn't modify his cross-legged position on his bed, keeping his eyes glued to the small plant. Utakata sighed and dismissed his bubbles before walking to Yagura's bed, focusing his own attention on his fellow compatriot, fully.

"Yagura, are you thinking of doing something... Drastic?" Utakata tentatively tried to open a conversation with the younger Jinchuuriki. "Not right now, I can understand that... But you're thinking about it."

"... When I'm strong enough." Yagura simply replied, confirming Utakata's thoughts. There was something drastic in Yagura's plans for the future, and he couldn't say he had never thought about something among those lines either.

Kiri's treatment of their weapons was excellent. They weren't malnourished or beaten or anything like that, but they were just that. Weapons. They were treated and sharpened with care because sooner or later they would have to be used and like they didn't have a choice now because they were weaker than most shinobi in the village, he was sure that they would find another method of keeping them under control once they grew too strong to be simply intimidated.

Yagura knew this as well, of that he was certain. The young Jinchuuriki was smarter than most adults he knew. So, whatever he had in mind, would have a time-limit, and they didn't even know what the limit date was. They were at a disadvantage, but he was pretty sure that Yagura wouldn't go down without a fight, not before taking a shot of being free, really free.

"... Just try to not do everything on your own, alright?" Maybe it was a bit selfish of him, mostly because he had never even thought of doing anything to change his situation. Becoming a missing nin didn't suit his taste much, unless something really bad happened to the point of making him get disgusted with even the concept of being a Kiri ninja. Though, he really worried about Yagura and...

"Utakata-nii! Yagura!" That was when the door opened, revealing a pretty bewildered Naruto. "Come! Hurry!"

"Huh? Naruto, what is it?" That had the effect of breaking Yagura's concentration as he stopped dedicating himself to the plant and turned around to face the blonde.

"Hurry! There's no time! Follow me!"

-Breakline-

"You know... I never actually focused on it, apart that night we talked with Gaara-san about stars..." Fu was skipping on the sand, her eyes focused on the night sky above, enjoying how the clouds slowly moved to the side revealing the myriad of bright dots. "But your country has a beautiful sky. It's also different from the one I usually see back in my country."

"That's probably because the lightning country is further up north than the waterfall village." Yugito commented, her heart beating in her chest and a sinking feeling in her stomach. She grimaced at the situation. Why? Why was the world out to get her? Why it seemed like Fu was doing everything in her power to approach her demise. Her demise at her hands.

"Yeah. That must be it." Fu nodded as she stopped right in front of the lake's shore. She stared at the night sky a bit more, her hands still crossed behind her back, keeping the silence for a little while. "Yu-chan, do you mind if I talk first?"

"I-It's alright." She tensed as she felt a familiar chakra flare. She tensed and started to sweat as she realized that she was watching them. The time was just right. She swallowed. She needed time. Time to think.

"Well, I've noticed that... In the last days... You've been acting kind of a jerk." That struck home, and Yugito's concentration broke again as she dropped her head and gaze.

"R-Really?"

"You've been avoiding me and answering rudely to all my questions, when you answer. You've mostly cut me off immediately." She gritted her teeth as Fu continued to talk, much to her chagrin. That's right. She had been acting like a jerk. She wanted to cut all and any ties in case... Something like this happened.

_Yes... This is for the best._ She said to herself as she started gathering chakra in her right hand. She had managed to give off the impression that she wanted. A cold, machine-like, jerk. Someone that she didn't like, that no one would like. She had managed to alienate her.

"At first I thought I had done something to anger you." That made her pause and widen her eyes. She had been acting like a jerk and Fu thought that she had been the one who had done something bad? "Then... I got to talk with Naruto-san."

"... Him." That made her eyes go back to normal and chuckle darkly to herself. If she talked to Naruto, then everything was perfect. Perfectly ruined. The small talk she had had with the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had left the boy with quite the impression of herself, and he had probably shared it with Fu.

"Yes. I am thankful. That made me understand." She tensed, her mind resigned to the inevitable. The flames around her right hand burned brighter as she summoned more chakra and then... "Why do you worry so much?"

"Heh?" She paused again, that simple question startling her.

"Naruto-san made me understand that you were acting like this because you were afraid if we could be best friends forever." That made her jaws go slack. She had already pictured the younger boy picturing her as some kind of heartless monster, and she found the picture not that far from the truth, in her mind. "You worry too much. It's true that once... Well, from this year on, actually, since this is your last year... We won't be able to see each other much again, and that when we become ninja we could... Meet in other circumstances, but... So?"

"So?" She gasped, losing her focus and temper. "So? Do you understand..."

"Yu-chan will always be Yu-chan to me." Then she turned around, grinning and her words died in her throat. "No matter what happens and no matter how much time passes, you will always be my best friend... Well, unless you start bad-mouthing the Gutsy Ninja! Then I will be merciless!"

"I can't..." Yugito pulled on the hair on her head with her left hand, gritting her teeth to the point of them hurting. "I can't believe what you're saying! What if... What if I ever got the order to kill you?" That seemed to give Fu pause, this time, the grin replaced with a confused expression. "That's right! Assassination missions happen! What if that happens? What then? Would you still say that I'm your friend?"

"... I don't think Yu-chan would ever go through with that." Fu commented, and Yugito's right hand twitched, the flame still flaring unnoticed. Then, the aquamarine-haired girl smiled warmly. "But if that happened... I think I would let you do it."

"You... You..." That did it. Just as Fu finally noticed tha gathering of chakra in her right hand, Yugito fell to her knees, biting on her lower lip, barely restrained sobs rocking her body as she tried to breath normally, which only came out as some kind of whimper.

"Y-Yu-chan?" Fu knelt in front of her older friend immediately after, only to receive a solid blow to her chest. "Ow!"

"You stupid... Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" She punched the younger girl on the chest again and again and again as she didn't try to restrain tears any more, letting them flow freely down her face. "You should hate me! Why do you think I did all this? Even before, I did it so you wouldn't think of me as a friend any more! And then you go and drop a bomb like this on me? You said you would place your life in my hands? How can you! How can you!"

"Yu-chan..." Fu managed to grab her wrists, and like before, Yugito found herself unable to move them. So she just whimpered pitifully and dropped her forehead on top of Fu's head, keeping on crying. Once she was sure that Yugito would no longer go crazy, she relaxed and hugged as much as she could of her friend. "You worry just too much."

"What's the meaning of this?" The sudden appearance of a voice, familiar only to Yugito, made the two girls immediately tense. Yugito let go of Fu and turned around, standing up again her back to her friend, protectively. "Nii Yugito."

"... Fu, don't move." She ignored the question and pulled out a kunai from her weapon pouch, as she narrowed her tear-stricken eyes at the Anbu.

"Answer me. You've been given a precise order. To assassinate the waterfall Jinchuuriki." Hearing those words, Yugito swallowed and Fu gasped softly. "Why aren't you carrying out your orders?"

"... Because..." Yugito narrowed her eyes at the Anbu in front of her, and she noticed that the hand holding the kunai was trembling. Though, it wasn't with fear. She knew fear, she had known it in the last days. This was something much more familiar. "Because I don't want to." That answer seemed to surprise the Anbu if the body language was clear enough. "Do I need another reason to not do it?"

"... Are you seriously defying your village's direct orders... The Raikage's will... On a whim?" It was anger. She was sure of that.

"Not on a whim. For a friend." She corrected him, lowering her stance even more. Dropping her free hand on the ground. That was her favourite guarding position. Probably another side-effect of having a hell-cat or something sealed in your body.

"... A friend. It seems that you're not a good ninja, after all. And an even worse Jinchuuriki." She gritted her teeth in annoyance. She suspected a ranting about what a ninja is supposed to act like was coming. "A ninja is supposed to be a tool. A Jinchuuriki a human weapon. If normal ninja aren't supposed to feel emotions, that goes double for you containers. And yet... You failed to abide by those teachings." She could feel his glare even through the mask. "Even worse, you've made friends with another weapon that also happens to be a target of an assassination mission, from another village."

"You gonna do something about it or just talk about it?" She replied with a smirk, trying to be defiant in the face of darkness. She knew what waited for her. He was probably going to take the mission in his own hands, now. He wanted to kill Fu and she was probably going to be punished once they went back to the Hidden Cloud. At least she could hope to enrage him.

"... Very well." The Anbu moved his right hand over and behind his head, grabbing onto the handle of his tantou. "I shall..."

"Fuck off and die." The Anbu stopped moving as he turned to the side and backstepped to dodge an incoming jet of something that looked dangerous. As he backstepped he observed the substance, identifying it as sand of a different colour than the one on the beach.

"Huh, Naruto, what does that mean?" He turned into the direction the voices were coming from, and he saw four small silhouettes approaching their position.

"Ehm... I don't know. I just heard some of the older kids during lunch break say it. Since they were fighting, I guess it's some kind of insult." One shorter than the other, but they all had something in common. They were all containers. The two from Kiri were focused on him, while the blonde one and the red-haired on were seemingly distracted, talking to each other. What he really noticed was the wooden sword the blonde one was carrying.

"Yes, it's indeed an insult, Naruto-san." The oldest one held something in his mouth. It looked like a pipe of some kind, but instead of smoke, he could see small soap bubbles floating out of it. "One that I'd prefer you didn't repeat."

"We're here to help." The smallest, youngest one declared as the small group reached the two girls' side, whose stares had been on them for a while, now.

"You... You four." Yugito didn't know if to be glad or surprised or... Then she realized that she had been crying and that her faces probably had signs of that. She immediately threw her arm to her face to clean it with the back of the appendage. This earned her a grin from Naruto.

"Aw, the big bad ninja girl was crying?" He teased, and Yugito answered with a growl. A real albeit low one.

"Shut up, you..." Then she noticed his expression. He was smiling, but it wasn't a smile that went with the teasing she had just been subject to. That confused her even more. "... What? What are you staring at?"

"Nah, nothing. I'm just... Well, I'm happy." That didn't clear much of her confusion, but he decided to elaborate further. "We saw everything, you know." That caused surprise and shame. She blushed and turned her head around. "So, I'm happy about being wrong. You're not the worst. You're a good friend."

"S-Shut up." She shook her head to clear her mind, focusing back on the most pressing problem. The adult ninja standing in front of them a few meters away, who was silently observing everything.

"... You say you've come to help, Jinchuuriki?" Those words made him the focus of all the children once again. "What goes... I mean, what possesses all of you to declare something like this? Are you really that naïve? You're all from different villages, you're all being bred with the same purpose in mind... How can you spout so easily nonsense about friendship?"

The assorted group of Jinchuuriki in front of him just stared back. "We're in a world that holds itself on conflict and war, and soon you..."

"Ehm... Anbu-san, you do realize you're talking to children here, right?" That stopped him, and if the mask was off, they could see him raising an eyebrow. "I mean, all that stuff you say about war, and conflict, and... Policies?"

"Politics, Naruto-san."

"Right, politics. That's stuff we don't know anything about. We're still children." Naruto continued once Utakata corrected him. "We don't know nothing about that, and I don't think we could even understand if someone told us. We're too young... And am I glad. I mean, Yugito probably does..." Naruto turned his face to the side to stare at the blonde haired girl. "And look what a mess she was."

"... Your point being?" The Anbu pressed Naruto on.

"What I mean is that we don't understand what you say to us! Even when Yugito was telling me, all I understood was that she was willing to hurt Fu because someone told her to do so! That was what got me angry! But now, I see that she wasn't really honest." Naruto raised the hand holding the bokken and pointed it at the Anbu. "Even now. I don't see anything but someone trying to hurt my friends. That's all that that I see... And that's enough for me to beat you up!"

"... Beat me up, you say." The Anbu seemed to have had enough, as he had finally extracted his weapon. "I understand that there's no way for me to convince you to just turn around and leave, but... Do you really think six children, none of which are genin yet can 'beat up' an Anbu?"

"Learn to count, or I'll sneak attack you!" The new voice surprised everyone on the shore. The Anbu turned around and had to parry a flurry of blows delivered by a trio of very-sharp looking swords. In the end, one managed to nick him on his left arm, and the attacker pivoted in the air and somersaulted till he landed in front of the other children, earning gasps from Naruto, Gaara and Fu and shocked look from the others. "That's what you deserve! You bad man, you!"

"... This rap... It can't be..." Yugito whimpered, placing a hand on her forehead.

"Bee-nii!" Naruto shouted out loud his new made on the spot nickname for the black-skinned youth, who turned around and flashed them a toothy grin. "You're here!"

"Of course! No village will keep me from me maties! Not when you're just a few kilometers away!"

"A few...! The Hidden Cloud is hundred of miles away from this location, you dolt!" The sudden appearance of the Cloud genin seemed to have made Yugito alive again. "How the hell did you persuade Raikage-sama to give you..."

"The Eight doesn't need no permission for visiting! Wryyyyyy! Oh, wait. That sounds wrong..." Yugito groaned and palmed her face with both hands. "Whatever! Yo! You! Underpaid idiot! I can't believe my bro would order something like that! I call bullshit or going behind his back on this! And so I'm kicking your ass! Yo!"

"... Kirabi-sama too... I can't believe this..." The sudden flare of chakra and the angry tone translated to everyone in the clearing that the Anbu was getting deadly serious. "Very well. I acquiesce. I will just have to slay you all and then bring Kirabi and Yugito back... For some serious punishing."

"Yeah, you try that, you idiot! Ch...!" Naruto found Kirabi's hand in front of his face and his head shaking from side to side. "W-What?"

"This is not your battle, 'Ruto." Naruto looked positively outraged. "Yugito, you with me."

"... Yes." Yugito nodded as she recovered and got ready to attack.

"Bubbles, Sand. You stay here and protect, but try to get some shots in on this guy. We can do this if we work together."

"H-Hey! What about me?" Kirabi sighed and placed a hand on top of Naruto's head.

"You're too young for bouting with him, yo. Same goes for Green hair and silent boy." The blonde gasped and pointed an accusing finger at Gaara.

"But he's my same age!"

"But he can attack from afar. You can only swing that wodden thing. Easy kill for an adult ninja." Naruto growled but acquiesced, dropping on the ground with a pot, Yagura right beside him. "Good boy." Kirabi suddenly got out three other swords, catching them with impossible to look at joints grips. "Now! Let's get this group bout started!"

-Breakline-

"Hey!" Itachi had just arrived to the room of the other Anbu and the senior Jinchuuriki, confident that he could find it faster than the younger children. He opened the door with a slam, finding all the Anbu, including Yamato, enjoying the company of Han who turned around to face the appeared Itachi. "We have a problem."

"Oh? What do you mean, Uchiha-san?" Han inquired, and Itachi blinked at how calm the older ninja was when he had just told him...

"The children are in danger. A foreign ninja is threatening them." He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that still, no one but Han was reacting to what he was saying. That irked him. Their mission was to protect the containers, so why were they silent?

"I see... Well, there's nothing to worry about." That made Itachi even more suspicious. He activated his Sharingan on instinct and his eyes widened. "Roshi is taking care of it."

-Breakline-

"... This sucks." Naruto gritted his teeth and bit on his lower lip as he observed the battle unfolding in front of him. He was getting increasingly frustrated and worried, just looking without being able to do anything.

Kirabi and Yugito were awesome in their eyes. The former had improved on his form, adding more swords to his particular style and fluidity to his moves, along with unpredictability. Who was even more impressive was Yugito, though. He was pretty sure most spines didn't allow for some of the thing she did as she bent, moved and jumped, her arms covered in what looked like blue fire, judging from the burns on the Anbu's clothes.

Also, there was whatever Utakata was doing. He could only see him puffing into his pipe, the bubbles disappearing right after into the night, and then small explosions each now and then resounding in the air around the fighters. What was even more impressive was that they were managing to do everything at once without hitting each other even once.

"Damn it..." Still, Naruto was worried. The battle had been going on for a few minutes, right now, but they still hadn't landed a solid hit in, none of the two sides, but till now the Anbu had done nothing but slash with his tanto, dodge and block. He had to be holding back, he was sure, probably because Yugito and Kirabi were from his village. The moment he managed to land a good hit on one of the two... "This will end badly... I think."

"But... What can we do?" Gaara said with a whine, sad that he hadn't been able to attack even once. They were on a beach and he hadn't enough control and confidence to be able to attack the man without hitting the others in the process.

"They were right... We aren't good enough yet to not get in their way..." Fu said with a pout, her eyes glued to the figure of Yugito, who, she kept on reminding herself, was fighting for her sake.

"Ahhh! If only I could thwack him on the head with this! Just once! For justice!" Naruto moaned, and in the meanwhile, Yagura was being strangely silent, observing everything around him, including his comrades. His young eyes suddenly stopped on Naruto's bokken. He leaned his hands forward and grabbed it, startling the Konoha Jinchuuriki. "Huh? What..."

"I can stop him." Naruto blinked at that, and Fu and Gaara also turned into his direction. Yagura seemed to have focused completely on the wooden sword that Naruto had let him grab with both hands, holding it horizontal on his lap. Then...

"Eh?" Naruto was confused as he saw Yagura bend over and open his mouth... And then he screamed in outrage. "HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOI-"

"EEEEK!"

"EEEEEEEEEW! GROSS!"

Yagura had just let a big, fat drop of drool fall on the flat side of Naruto's bokken. As the thing settled, Naruto immediately snatched the weapon back from Yagura's arms, meeting no opposition from the younger Jinchuuriki. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? AHHHH! I TOUCHED YAGURA DROOL!"

"No. It's dry." Yagura replied and Naruto stopped freaking out and laid his eyes on his bokken again, finding that, indeed, the thing was dry, no trace of drool was left.

"Eh? Where..." He turned it around in his hands, looking for traces of what he knew had just come out of Yagura's mouth. "Where did it go?"

"If you hit him, I can stop him, now." The words made no sense to Naruto, who just scratched the top of his head in confusion.

"Hit him, you say... But the problem stands." He turned his head in the direction of the battle, where Yugito had just been hit in the face by the Anbu's right backhand. "How can I get close enough to him without getting killed? Ah! Good work, Bee-nii!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw Kirabi managing to break the blade of the enemy's tantou, rendering it unusable.

As a reply, Yagura just pointed at Gaara, who mimicked him, pointing at himself. "Me? But how can I... Oh." Then he realized it. "Right! I can use my sand to move you!"

"Genius! Hey, I want to help too!" Fu perked up and raised and waved her right arm from left to right in the air. "If he's lost his weapon, I can help! I can block his attacks no sweat! Well, the physical ones..."

"Hmm... Alright, group huddle!" Naruto declared, grabbing Fu and Yagura by the shoulders and pulling them towards Gaara, and the four started to whisper to each other. If Utakata hadn't been focused on the battle, he would have been clearly amused.

-Breakline-

"This is getting really tedious." The Anbu said as he dodged Kirabi's slashes and then countered with a blow to his face.

"Ow!" The punch hit home, but Kirabi just somersaulted, going with the motion do diminish the damage. "That hurt!"

"Raaah!" Yugito tried an axe drop-kick from above, and the Anbu jumped back, dodging that too.

"Huh!" He was then thrown forward by an sudden explosion coming from right behind him. He landed on one knee to the ground, and the two Kumo Jinchuuriki were upon him in a split second. "... This is getting tiresome."

The two hit the ground with their techniques, only to find that they had just destroyed a log. _The substitution technique._ Kirabi reacted first, turning around and laying his eyes on the man again, who was going through a series of handseals. His eyes widened behind his sunglasses. "Sh-"

"It's over." The Anbu slammed both his hands onto the ground and suddenly the two Kumo Jinchuuriki felt the ground under their feet shift. They cursed as they didn't get away fast enough, and one foot each got stuck into what looked and felt dangerously like quicksand. "Don't worry, it's not deep enough for you to sink in."

"Mother..." Yugito was panicking, but not for herself. If they were unable to move, he would naturally turn his attention to the others. She narrowed her eyes at him as she tried to burn through the sticky mud. "If you even lay a hand on her...!"

"What are you going to do?" The Anbu ignored her as he straightened his posture. "That technique is going to hold you in place long enough for me to..."

"Hey! Ugly!" Then, that voice. That nagging voice. He turned his head up and around and even behind the mask, he had to raise an eyebrow. "Up here! Yeah!" The scene was incredibly strange.

Naruto, holding the bokken diagonally behind his back with one hand, was standing crouched on what couldn't be described as anything else as a cloud made out of golden sand, which shifted and moved under his feet, spiky hair moving in the wind. Right behind him, latched around his waist with both hands, stood the Waterfall Jinchuuriki. He couldn't for the life of himself remember where he had seen something like that before. "We're coming to get you!"

"Now, Gaara-san!" Obedient, Gaara manipulated the golden cloud so that it shot down towards the Kumo Anbu at high speed, in a straight line. Yugito gasped at the sight.

"No! Run! Run away!" She struggled against the mud's hold, trying desperately to free herself, but in vain.

"... A good tactic, but..." The Anbu crouched down, ready to counter-attack. "Charging in a straight line? Wouldn't it have been better if you used that thing's mobility to try to find an opening?"

"Aaaaaaand... Drop!" Just as the duo were about to get into his range, they suddenly dropped out of his sight. The Anbu blinked as he realized what had just happened. The Cloud had just disappeared, making the two kids drop to the ground, out of his reach for that split second that they needed to... "Now, Fu-chan!"

"On it! Fu Poweeeeeeeeeeeeer..." And suddenly, the Anbu found himself seeing, feeling something that shouldn't have been possible. He saw a girl many years younger and many pounds lighter than him... "Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Grab onto his right leg, lift him off the ground and swing him around like he was a rag doll.

"Alright! U-Zu-Ma-Ki!" As the girl let go of him just to launch him towards the blonde kid, he saw the Konoha child get into a position that looked dangerously like it belonged into the kata of a swordsmanship style. "Naruto Issatsu!" Even when throw through the air, he managed to get his hands in front of the sword, blocking the strike.

_They surprised me. I guess I can finish this, now..._

"Get longer." Those whispered words from afar surprised him as he fell to the ground, Naruto's wooden weapon still pressing against him and then... It lengthened. It was like it was obeying orders. The Bokken got longer and struck him in the mask. Then, something else happened. It didn't grow any longer, but...

"W-W-W-What the hell?" Naruto seemed as surprised as anyone else when a bunch of branches, vines and flowers suddenly started sprouting from his weapon, wrapping themselves around him and effectively constricting and blocking his movements. "T-This is why you spat on my bokken? But how does this work?"

"Sufficient to say... It works." Utakata commented, as he finally relaxed and used his bubbles to get rid of the mud around Yugito and Bee's ankles. The two Kumo Jinchuuriki immediately jumped away from the puddle and then headed to Fu and the captured Anbu, respectively. "A thank you? Nothing? Oh, well."

"Are you alright? That was crazy!" Yugito said as she checked Fu's body for injuries, but found nothing of the sort. Then she remembered what had just happened. "... Fu. How the hell are you that strong?"

"Hehehehe..." The aquamarine girl just giggled and shook her right index finger from side to side. "Now, Yugito-chan... You think you and Gaara-san are the only ones who got special abilities from their bijuu?"

"You mean... It's not only the hard skin?" Yugito commented, while Bee was spouting rap in the Anbu's face who let out a sigh.

"Well done, children. You got me." Bee laughed out loud before dropping his hands on Yagura and Naruto's heads, skipping the latter on to Gaara right after.

"Ah! These are my followers! Good work, guys! I take back what I said about age! You kicked ass!" Naruto beamed at the praise, while Gaara blushed in embarrassment and Yagura shrugged his shoulders, and only Utakata noticed the beginning of a smirk. The black-skinned Jiinchuriki then turned his attention back to the Anbu. "Now, let us see who's hiding behind that mask! To better report who's failed his task!"

"Do you really need to rhyme that too?" Yugito commented while the Genin grabbed onto the mask and pulled it up and away, revealing the wrinkled face of the Anbu along with his read hair... Wait.

"Good work, children." As the 'Anbu' spoke, the whole group of Jinchuuriki couldn't help but stare. And stare. And Yugito understood she had been well and truly played, and gasped.

"YOU?" Her rant was interrupted as suddenly, the plants and Naruto's bokken disintegrated in a burst of fire, from which the younger Jinchuuriki protected themselves on instinct by raising their arms to cover their eyes. "It was you all along?"

"Yes, it was." With the flame burst, Roshi had also dispelled the transformation technique that had made him appear as a Cloud Anbu, and immediately placed one of his giant cigars between his lips. "That was an impressive display of teamwork. Congratulations, children."

"T-Thanks... Hey! Don't change the subject!" Naruto recovered soon after and pointed roughly at Roshi. "Why did you do this... This... Why did you trick us? Why did you ask Yu-chan to do something that terrible?"

"To see if she would really do it." Another voice, this one familiar only to Naruto and Gaara, made the whole group turn into the other direction. It belonged to a certain Konoha Anbu not that older than anyone in their group. "That's what everything was about, right?"

"Itachi-nii? You knew of this too?" The Anbu shook his head from side to side.

"No. Han-san explained everything to me just a few minutes ago." He declared turning his head to point at the tall Jinchuuriki. "I must say... That's an intriguing form of Genjutsu."

"Comes with the beast." Han chuckled while the younger containers just kept on getting more and more confused.

"Ahhh! I don't understand!" Naruto shouted out, ever the spontaneous one. "Why did you need to see if Yugito would do... What you asked of her? Why the... Carcadè?"

"Charade, Naruto..." Gaara felt really strange, having to correct the words of someone his own age. Either he was too knowledgeable for his age or Naruto wanted to use words too difficult for his age. Probably both.

"That! Why?" Roshi chuckled at Naruto's enthusiasm and then turned to Han.

"Han. How much time is left before the Genjutsu break?" The giant put a hand to his chin to think about it.

"... I'd say it's enough time. To be on the safe side, though... Itachi-san, may I request your assistance in keeping an eye on them?" Itachi thought about the request for a few seconds before nodding. He had accepted of being extraneous to the whole matter when he had decided to keep for himself the first conversation between Roshi and Yugito, and now that he had confirmed that it wasn't anything dangerous, he owed to Naruto his privacy. This was something between friends... And he had some thinking of his own to do.

Once the Anbu shunshined away, not before nodding in Naruto's direction, Roshi and Han invited all the Jinchuuriki to sit in a circle on the beach. "So... Time for explanations. You're probably wondering why we've forced Yugito here... To become so miserable." The subject of his sentence suddenly stiffened and Fu grabbed one of her hands on instinct, glaring at the Iwa nin. "The point is... Well, you realize that, as your trainers, we've been observing you."

"But we didn't just observe your physical growth. We also focused on what's been going on in your heads... We had another objective, we admit." Han continued, picking up were Roshi finished. They had been doing speeches like this for a long time. "We noticed that all of you have been forming ties... Friendships, but Yugito was the only one who didn't accept it. While we may have reinforced your... Bad moods, we weren't the start of it, right?"

"... No." The blonde container admitted, lowering her head to stare at the ground.

"We needed to see if effectively you had already been turned into a true shinobi or you valued the bond you've made with Fu. You didn't disappoint your friend." Roshi continued, smiling at Yugito. Fu mimicked the older Jinchuuriki, and the Kumo kunoichi to be seemed to regain a bit of her colour. "You see... This camp was thought out as a façade for something else. Probably to put the blame of Gaara's assassination on someone else."

"I... I thought so too." Gaara admitted. He had heard that it had been his father to propose the plan in the first place, after all.

"But where everyone else saw a field for political warfare, me and Han saw an opportunity. We saw it as soon as we saw Gaara and Naruto get friendly to each other. That opportunity got confirmed on the last day, when we saw Gaara, Naruto and Yagura hug each other and cry." The forementioned youngsters blushed at the memory. "And when Kirabi and Utakata acknowledged that they respected each other, and when Fu and Yugito started to bond over the works of Jiraiya-sama."

"Hmm... I prefer his other books." Han suddenly found two female gazes on him at that comment, and he cursed silently since they weren't children-friendly books. "N-Nevermind that! We could go on for hours on making examples, but the point is, you bonded!"

"Not as ninja, but as real friends. This is the first time that all the bijuu, exception made for ourselves, are sealed inside someone so young and are able to meet before their training is complete." Roshi continued, his cigar lighting up and smoke puffing out of his mouth as he talked. "On something Yugito was right. Jinchuuriki are weapons. Barring Naruto's case... They're nurtured as such. What's expected of you is to be at best a deterrent for enemies by being scary, at worst to lay waste to armies with your powers. And most of the times, just another Jinchuuriki can oppose a Jinchuuriki, or at least they prefer to make it so."

"True. That's been ingrained in mine and Yagura's mind ever since... Well, ever." Utakata commented, not really able to remember the start of his lessons about his being a walking weapon that needed to be sharpened.

"Exactly. Most of the times, they manage to persuade anyone of that because most of the times... His duty, his village, is everything that a Jinchuuriki has. This time, that's not the case." Han finished, sending his gaze all around the circle, taking in the focused appearance of each and every Jinchuuriki in the room. "By chance... All of us have met, and we've formed bonds. All of us have something that right now matters more than obedience. You proved that earlier, in that fight."

"Hmm... So true-a! I wasn't really convinced that wasn't an Anbu sent by my brother!" Bee admitted with a groan as he slumped to the ground on his back. "He was the one who ordered to try and kidnap the Hyuuga kid three years ago!"

"... Yes. I did." Yugito continued, squeezing Fu's hand back. "And I would do it again. All over... Well, not the hesitation part..."

"Hell yeah! I finally have friends, and I'm never going to do anything bad to them just because someone tells me so! Hands here!" Showing a bit of hyperactive language maybe a bit too advanced for his age, Naruto threw his hands forward. Yagura smiled slightly and was the first one to understand and place his own tiny hand on top of Naruto's own one, followed right after by Gaara.

Kirabi recovered from his slumped posture and with a grin put his own hand on top of the bundle, and then Fu did the same bringing Yugito's held hand with her own one. Utakata was the last one to join in, smiling all the way. He had never seen Yagura so eager and happy. When he was around Naruto and Gaara was maybe the only time he saw him smiling for real. "Though... What was the point in all this? Checking if we were the best of friends for the chance of future reunion parties or something?"

"... Something like that, yes." Roshi admitted with a chuckle, surprising most of the other Jinchuuriki. "What we want from you is just a pledge, actually."

"A pledge?" Naruto commented, raising an eyebrow. Han nodded.

"Yes. A promise, a vow. We want you to pledge right here, right now, that you'll always value your friends more than anything else." Han voiced out his thoughts, earning once again the attention of everyone on that small patch of beach.

"I pledge that." Unsurprisingly, the effect of recent events still fresh in her mind, the first to go with it was Yugito. Fu beamed and hugged her with her free arm.

"I do that too! Me and Yu-chan are best friends forever!"

"We promise!" Naruto, Gaara and Yagura were the next ones, making their pledges all at the same time, earning laughter out of each other.

"Yo! I risked the wrath of my brotha twice! Not pledging this now wouldn't be nice!" Kirabi mimicked the others in his own particular style.

"I do." Utakata declared, ending the series and then patted his younger compatriot on the head, earning a flush of embarrassment from Yagura. Han and Roshi smiled. Their work was done, at least the part concerning cementing the bonds between their younger counterparts.

"Ohh! I know! I got an idea!" Naruto suddenly broke the solemn silence that had just ensued, breaking the hands-joining by raising his hand up, the others mimicking him as a consequence. "We're sorta like... A secret club, now! Right? So, we should... We should get a name! And code-names and stuff!"

"A... Secret club?" Yugito's warmth and affection-induced trance had been broken just like that. She restrained herself from punching the top of Naruto's head and settled for scoffing. "That's so child..."

"Cool! Then, what about, 'The Gutsy Ninjas'?" Only to be cut off by Fu's enthusiasm. She pouted and turned to the side. She would have to go with it, it seems.

"Nah! What about 'Warriors of Rap'?" As long as that wasn't the name.

"Hmm... What about something less... Noticeable." Utakata suggesting, putting the point of his pipe to his chin, tapping it lightly. "Hmm, I remember of a trio of legendary ninjas from Naruto's village who simply called themselves the 'Sannin', the three ninja."

"Ah, right! Tsunade, Jiraiya and Orochimaru! They were the old man's students! We've studied it this year!" Naruto acknowledged. "Then... What about we call ourselves the nine ninja! The Kyuunin!"

"Oooh? We're included too?" Roshi said in mock surprise while Han laughed. Naruto just grinned.

"Of course! So? What do you say?" Yugito just nodded. It was simple enough and it served the purpose. Gaara, Utakata and Yagura nodded with a smile, and Kirabi was a little more enthusiastic in his agreement. "Great! Now, for code-names! Hmmm..."

"Hey! I know!" Fu raised her hand again. "What about... The things Gaara-san told us?"

"Heh?" Gaara was surprised by the suggestion, then it downed on him. "You mean... The things I told you about stars?"

"Yes! There were some cool names in there! We can use those as code-names!"

"Woah! Yeah, they were awesome!" Naruto agreed and slapped the Gaara's back a bit harshly. "Alright! Gaara, you decide our code-names!"

"E-Eh? I have to?" That left him bewildered. He looked around to find help, something opposing the fact, but they were all waiting for him to speak, it seemed. He blushed and started fidgeting. "Ehm... Alright. Aaaah..." He bit his lower lip, thinking about proper names for each and everyone. Then he started trying to go by elimination. One at a time. "Well... Since I stay awake most of the night and-and I'm deciding your names... I guess that makes me the moon."

"Just moon?" Naruto inquired, and Gaara 'hmm'-ed.

"Well... Wu-Xing. Like the different elemental classification. Yes, I will be Wu-Xing, the Moon." He next turned to Yagura next, finding the perfect name for him, knowing how his bijuu looked like. "Yagura can be Genbu, the Black Tortoise."

"Tortoise?" Yagura raised an eyebrow and the realized why. He chuckled and nodded.

"Then... Yugito-san can be the White Tiger, Byakko." Gaara continued, earning a nod from the girl. "And Fu-san can be the Golden Dragon, Huang Long."

"The one at the center, right? But why?" Fu inquired, not really understanding the logic.

"Huu... Huang Long makes the seasons change, and you made Yugito-san change, so..." Gaara explained, blushing all the while. He continued with the naming. "Bii-san can be the Vermilion Bird, Suzaku. You told me that you like summer the best, so..."

"Woooh! I'm winged ox, now! Niiiice!"

"And Utakata-san can be Seiryuu, the Azure Dragon. You always wear that colour." Utakata chuckled and nodded, accepting the new name.

"Hey! What about me?" Naruto felt left out since he had been the last one to be named of the younger containers.

"Well... You, Han-san and Roshi-sensei can be the three enclosures. The ones that can be seen all year long." That made Naruto pipe down. "Roshi-san can be Purple Forbidden, since..."

"I always wear purple. Ahahah, it's fine by me."

"Han-san is Supreme Palace... And... That makes you, Naruto, Heavenly Market." Naruto blinked and then thought about it for a while... And then pouted.

"... You gave me the only name that sucks, Gaara." Gaara wanted to feel bad, but the face Naruto was making was just too much. He laughed. "What's so funny? I'm a market! What's cool about a market?"

"But Naruto! It's a market from heaven!" Fu told him, which only served to enrage him further and make everyone but him laugh. He would pout and sulk for a while, but in the end, he would go with it.

"Ahahahah! Well, I guess this concludes the first official meeting of the Kyuunin!" Roshi said, getting up from his seat on the sand. "I suggest we now get back to bed before..."

"BEEEEE!" That broke everyone's good humor and Bee positively shuddered.

"Oh, hell! It's A!"

"Who's A, nii-san?"

"A is..."

"YOU DUMB IDIOT!" In a flash of lightning and a cloud of raised sand, the most enormous man Naruto had ever seen had descended upon them and grabbed onto Bee, and was now shaking him like a rag doll. "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING GOING OFF ON YOUR OWN? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

"... Raikage-sama." Yugito acknowledged, bowing her head as other presences arrived on the place. Noticing the other young Jinchuuriki looking at her expectantly, she elaborated. "This is A. Bee's older brother and the current Raikage."

"Oh." Naruto turned his attention back to the currently unconscious form of Bee, trapped into a headlock by his older brother. "They look alike." Bee was in for a long night.

-Breakline-

The next days passed by in a flash for the newly named 'Kyuunin' and their escorts. Yugito found herself smiling a lot more now that her mind was free of all those thoughts weighting on her, and everyone was more relaxed and at ease, unless they were doing Roshi's training from hell. But even full of bee-stings and the occasional injury from getting too close to the skin of the summoned shark, the children laughed between each other. Seems like A had allowed Bee to stay if Roshi made him get followed around by two sharks instead of one.

In the end, the final day of camp arrived, and that meant that Kumo was officially out of the agreement, both of their Jinchuuriki having reached the maximum age, cue Yugito getting sad and teary once again. Fu was a lot more cheerful, comforting the older girl and telling her that she would write her lots and they would always have their bond over the work of Jiraiya-sama to connect them for the ages to come.

Again, Bee was having a moment with the three youngest Jinchuuriki, who just grinned up at him as he cried what he called 'manly tears' at the prospect of not seeing them any more. That day there was a general exchange of mail addresses. Also, the Kumo Jinchuuriki earned a promise out of Utakata of a match once he became a Genin and they met.

And then, it was like everyone kept their most dear goodbye for last. Naruto and Gaara got it easy since they had to do a part of the trip back together. The day they had to part they hugged each other tightly before grinning.

"So... To next year! And I'll have become even stronger by that time, I bet!" Naruto commented, and Gaara nodded.

"And I bet that I will be able to make even more things with my sand! Like that Golden Cloud! Ah! I'm sorry about your Nyoi-Bo..." Naruto just stared, and Gaara thought back on his words. "Your bokken, I mean. Where did that come from...?"

"It's okay. It's just wood. I can get another one! Ah!" In his impetus, Naruto's backpack had opened slightly and something had just fallen out of it. A book that was really familiar to Gaara, having it seen in the hands of a certain Jinchuuriki from Taki many times. Naruto gasped and picked it up immediately, brushing any dirt off of it.

"Naruto... Is that...?"

"Yeah. Fu-chan's book. She gave it to me." Gaara was surprised with how many times she read it, he knew that the girl treasured that book. "She said it was... A thank you."

"Oh... Well, she must have been really grateful." Gaara observed, missing how Naruto's blushed right after. The book had been just the first thing Fu had given him. Right after that, Yugito had, grudgingly thanked him too by kissing his right cheek. Not wanting to be upstaged, the Taki Jinchuuriki had immediately said 'Me too!' and locked lips for a brief second with the now wreck of a seven years old. He yucked and hoped that the stories about cooties weren't true.

Their conversation was interrupted by the Suna Anbu calling out to Gaara, signalling that it was time to move on. Gaara nodded in their direction and stole one last hug from his best friend. "See you next year, Naruto!"

"Yeah! Bye, Gaara!" The redhead waved at Naruto as he started retreating, then he suddenly stopped as he remembered something else.

"Hey, Naruto." The blonde stopped and turned around again. "About... I mean, what did Roshi-sensei wanted to talk to you about?"

"... Ah." Yes. He hadn't told Gaara about that conversation...

-Flashback-

"_Uhm... So, why did you tell me about my parents?"_

"_Hmmm, a good question." Roshi acknowledged as he and Naruto talked privately, away from the rest of the group. "Well, it was an order from madame Tsuchikage, actually. She wanted you to lose trust in your village."_

"_... Well, I kind of did. At least in some people..." Naruto pouted as he recalled the conversation he had had with Yugito. "But... Why would she want that?"_

"_To make you run to us the next year, actually, when the camp will be held in Iwa." That made Naruto blinked. "You see... Technically, you're still a civilian, since you aren't in any particular training program apart this camp that for all intents and purposes doesn't exist, and you don't have a legal guardian. Your defection wouldn't have any ill effect on Iwa, and we would get a third Jinchuuriki that it's also the son of our worst historical enemy. Can you imagine... Well, not yet, I guess."_

_Naruto was silent for a few seconds, thinking about it. Roshi interrupted his thoughts as soon as possible. "Don't even think about it, Naruto." He advised, snapping Naruto out of his reverie. "Jinchuuriki are treated like Jinchuuriki everywhere. It wouldn't change much, apart the fact that in Iwa you would be trained to become what Yugito now dreads to become. An unemotional weapon."_

"_... No, I wasn't thinking about that. I wouldn't. I mean..." Naruto's mind pictured a picture of a smiling blue haired girl his own age. "I have a friend in Konoha too, and... I can't leave her alone. She only has me. She's lonelier than I am... Woah! I said it right! Lonelierlonelierlonelier..." Roshi's amused stare told him he was getting sidetracked. "Ehm... The point is... I still don't understand why you're doing all this for us? Both you, and Han-san."_

"_... It's still too soon to tell you. You wouldn't understand." Roshi answered, patting the top of Naruto's head affectionately. "Suffice to say... By their very nature of containers, Jinchuuriki always find themselves in the middle of big historical events, and next time that happens, I'd like you lot to make your own choices."_

"_... Roshi-sensei, you've lost me." The older man chuckled at that and then started pushing him back to the others._

_"It's fine. Now, come on. Me and Han have a surprise for you."_

-End Flashback-

"Ah, we were talking about next year's training! It's going to be awesome! But be sure to bring a pair of new hands!" That made Gaara go pale and whine as he slumped his posture and walked away, waving at Naruto with all the energy of a death row inmate. Naruto laughed and he waved back, skipping to Itachi's side.

"... Had fun, Naruto-kun?" The blonde nodded energetically, earning a tiny smile from the blonde Jinchuuriki. "So... That was quite the strange game you found yourself into."

"He... I'm just happy that it all ended well!" He replied, and Itachi, even if he realized that he was asking this to a seven years old, couldn't help but ask him that question.

"Naruto, did you really mean what you said?" Itachi inquired, earning a confused face from the younger Konoha citizen. "About your friends."

"Ah, that? Well, yes, of course. I mean... My friends are what's most important to me. Why wouldn't I choose to defend them?" Naruto answered honestly, and Itachi acknowledged his resolve.

"... I see. Thank you." The thirteen years old Anbu focused back on the road with his eyes, but his mind was on something else. What was most important to him... That was a question that he still hadn't found an answer to. He valued peace, but was that what really was the most important thing to him?

-Breakline-

"Back. The mission was successful, Hokage-sama." Yamato had already decided, although, to avoid putting in the report the little detail of the evening the whole Anbu contingent got drunk, with the exception of Itachi.

"I can see that. Welcome back, Naruto." He had been thinking about how he would react when he saw the Sandaime again ever since Roshi had told him about the little stupid stunts he had pulled regarding his secrets and his heritage. He knew he should be a little angry, maybe pissed off... Then, he remembered all the times he had comforted him, had been nice to him. He had tried to make up for it, at least so he thought.

"Hey, jiji! This year was even more fun than the last!" So, he settled for hugging him around the waist as usual. The fire shadow smiled and picked him up in his arms. "It was so fun! Kirabi-nii-san was there too!"

"Really? But didn't he reach the maximum age last year?" Naruto snickered at that, earning an amused expression from the Hokage. "I bet there's a story behind that."

"You betcha! Wanna hear it?" As Naruto started recounting the story, he suddenly stopped when he noticed that there was someone his own age that had come to the gates to receive their party. A boy who looked a bit like Itachi, which the older boy picked up like the Sandaime did for him. Maybe it was the younger brother the Anbu had talked about. Shrugging his shoulders, he turned his attention back to the Sandaime. He had lots of things to tell him.

-Breakline-

"Ahhh... Home, sweet h..."

"Surprise!"

"ACK!" Naruto had just walked through his front door when he was attacked from behind by a tag team made out of a stuffed bear and a girl. "A-Ami! What the hell?"

"I wanted to surprise you! I did, didn't I?" He groaned and remembered that he had indeed given her the keys to his apartment. As she got off him, she looked at her face. He knew that grin. It was the 'I know something you don't and I'm going to tell you' grin.

"Something good happened?" Ami nodded eagerly.

"Yes! Want to come out with me and eat? I'm meeting with my older sister and I'd like you to meet her!" That earned surprise from the blonde Jinchuuriki.

"Huh, sure. Just let me unpack first." Naruto replied as he started opening his backpack and putting away his things. "Where are we eating?"

"Some place called Ichiraku." That was the beginning of a life-long love.

-Breakline-

"Aniki... Who was that blonde boy? I think I remember him from the academy." Observant as ever. Itachi just smiled at his younger brother.

"He was the person I had to escort. I can't tell you anything else." There it was again. His pout. He shook his head and then decided to tease him a bit. "Well... He liked my pocky very much." That earned him an outrage gasp from his younger sibling.

"Your pocky? You never give anyone your pocky!" He was assaulted immediately after by the youngest member of his family, and he held him at bay by simply stretching his arm forward. "No fair! Gimme gimme gimme!"

"Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time." That only made the young Uchiha renew his efforts in trying to bodily reach his older sibling.

"Itachi, dear." The struggle was interrupted by the appearance of their mother. Itachi raised his head to look at her. "Someone from the Hokage's office just dropped by. Seems like they require your presence."

"Understood. Thanks, mom." Itachi nodded in approval and then returned his attention to Sasuke. He guessed he had a little time for playing with him before seeing what the Hokage wanted.

**CHILDHOOD END**

"Hmmm... Damn thing..." As the sun set over Konoha, a hand groggily shout out from under a bunch of covers, fumbling around to try and find the right button to press upon a very noisy alarm clock. Why the hell did he buy one with such a fastidious tone in the first place? "... Right. It was a gift."

He groaned as he threw off the cover, stretching out his back as he raised his hands and opened his mouth wide to let out a mix between a yawn and a growl. He was just too nice of a guy. Because it was a gift, he just had to use it, didn't he? He sighed as he walked out of his bedroom and into the main living room, heading for the bathroom.

"Morning, guys." He muttered, still a bit sleepy but never sleepy enough not to smile as he laid eyes on the bunch of framed photographs stuck to the wall. He passed a quick glance over all of them, but as usual, he focused on the top one, the group shot they had taken at the end of the second year of camp, last year they had all been gathered together. He remembered how awkward Itachi had looked when he had asked him to get into the photo as well.

He smiled at the fond memories and that woke him up completely. "Alright! Time to get ready!"

-Breakline-

"Alright! Clothes, check!" He checked for one last time that his clothes were all in order. Short orange pants, blue t-shirt, sleeveless orange jacket. No crumbs, no stains, no anything. "Oral hygiene, check!" He pulled on his lips and exposed his teeth, white as little else in the room or the whole city, for that matter. "Weapons, check!" The holsters were all securely in place, one attached to his belt, another tied with bandages around his right tight. "Forehead protector, check!" He tapped the metal of the object wrapped securely around his forehead, grinning at the cool sensation under his skin.

He then lowered himself and pulled out a long wooden box from under his bed, grinning like a loon all the while. He slowly opened the box and whistled as he laid eyes on the object contained in it. "Old man, you're the best."

Just as asked, the scabbard was in reality two scabbards attached one to the other, all connected to a long strap that he would proceed to tie around his waist, aligning the objects horizontally to the ground. Then, he laid eyes on the hilt coming out from one of the scabbards. Dark green, with the metal parts golden in colour. He was tempted of pulling it out, lay eyes on the blade itself, but he had promised himself that he would do it only when he would need to draw it. Smirking, he closed the box and tied the object around his waist.

"Alright! Last thing..." With a quick check of his house to be sure that he had closed again all the windows, he opened his front door and locked it behind him right after. He then crouched down and smirked before running in the direction of the edge of the walking part of his floor, jumping out into the sky towards the next building, a few meters below. "Yeah! The world better be ready for this! Uzumaki Naruto has graduated!"

_Continue..._

_In the next chapter..._

Leaving behind the experiences of childhood, Naruto starts adventuring himself in the world of a ninja, alongside his team-mates and Jounin sensei. What challenges await him? Well, at first, not many. Stay tuned!


	6. Shinobi I

Well, here's the next chapter. They're all grown up and ready to kick ass. Who? The Jinchuuriki, of course!

Before letting you get to the story, a few notices that I guess you could find of interest.

1) Meinos Kaen is now on Facebook. Yep, I now have a facebook account. That will probably be the fastest way you'll have to know when I post something, either here or on my site. Just search for Meinos Kaen and add me. I'll be sure to add you back. :)

2) Yes. I now have a personal site. Opens in a couple hours. That's where I'll post previews of the chapters that I'll later on post here, bonus to the stories and short drafts of new ideas that normally I can't post here. Also, I will post there the PDF versions of the stories you read here, with corrections and sometimes additions. You can find the URL in my profile. The opening post will appear at 01:00 AM, Italian hour.

That said, it would be cruel of me to keep you further from the story. Enjoy!

**Leadership**

**Book II, Chapter I: The Team**

"Mou, Ami... I hardly recognized you, this morning..." Ino had a fabulous memory for faces and names, mostly because it wasn't faces that she associated with names. She had noticed that as people grew up, they started focusing on particular things, mostly clothes. Each person had his unique dress-up style.

"Hehehe... It was a surprise for me too." That was how Ami had managed to throw her off her game. Her attire was completely changed, it wasn't just the fact that now she proudly wore her forehead protector over its rightful place. White cargo shorts, a violet t-shirt with the motive of a rose and a dark blue sleeveless jacket, which she wore open, and finally dark blue wristbands. She wore as usual a weapon pouch strapped over a tight with bandages and the belt with the other. "My older sister bought them for me as a graduation present."

"They suit you... Real tomboyish, I must say." The tease earned Ino a glare from the fellow graduate, but she just chuckled. "Ahhh, don't worry. Naruto is going to like them, I'm sure." That, instead, earned her a blush as the girl started playing with one of her bangs.

"Are you... You think so?" Ami didn't show it to anyone but Yugao, but she wasn't really confident in her looks. As Ino said, she acted pretty boyish and her hair weren't that pretty. Sure, she had a cute face and pretty eyes, but that was the age when one was supposed to develop other signals of femininity. In that area, she was almost as bad as Sakura.

"Meh. I don't think I've ever seen Naruto not like something." That made Ami's forehead twitch, and Ino laughed out loud again. "Jokes apart, I think that he's going to think that they're 'awesome', but that's that. He's not the kind of guy who says 'oh, you look cute' in them."

"... Also, it's not like I have any cute clothes. They're not my style." Ami frowned and let her head fall on her crossed arms on top of the desk in front of her. "But it's not the point. My onee-chan manages to be pretty even while wearing an Anbu uniform, and that includes the mask."

"No, no, no. Don't go there." Ino stopped her, waving a finger around to admonish the girl. "That's the biggest error you can do. Your sister is a fully developed adult woman. You're barely twelve years old."

"... Still, I bet she was prettier than me at my age." Ami continued, and Ino rolled her eyes.

"Then maybe you will be prettier than her at her age." That made the blue-haired girl raise an eyebrow. "Each girl develops differently, Ami-chan. Patience is the first rule of beauty. Just wait and take care of yourself, and you'll become a beautiful flower, one day."

"Hmm... Spoken like a mature woman. Your mother told you that?" Ino laughed nervously at that.

"Actually... It was my father." Ami's eyebrow reached comical heights. "Yeah, I know... Oh! Here comes your date!"

"I-Ino!" She admonished her as she blushed and turned around while Ino walked back to her own seat, indeed laying eyes on the object of her most recent thoughts. All dressed up in his new clothes as well, his sword hanging on his back, sheathed in his custom-made sheath. She settled down and raised her right arm to wave at him.

"Ami-chan! Morning!" Naruto strolled down the steps and jumped over the last three, startling two girls who were sitting on the desk to his right. "Doesn't it feel good to finally be a real ninja?"

"It sure does." Ami replied with a grin, before throwing her head out to the side to peek as his latest addiction to his attire. "Ohhh! Is that..."

"Yep. But you can't see it yet. I'm gonna draw it in front of otehrs only when I first face an enemy!" The blonde solemnly said, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. Ami mock-pouted.

"But what if I'm not there to see it? Pwease, just a sneak peek?" He rolled his eyes. This could have worked when they were younger... Well, it worked still, but not that much that he needed to go back on a pledge he made to his very being.

"No can do. Just hope we're placed on the same team." Naruto finished, sitting beside her in the empty place. Ami pouted for real, this time, before a mischievous grin replaced it.

"Well, a team is usually made of one of the best students, one of the so and so ones and one of the really bad ones based on their grades. Since I'm one of the top graduates, we get along really well and your votes are mediocre because of your terrible control... I guess that's a safe bet." She innocently counted the facts on the fingers of her right hand.

"Bite my large chakra reserves." Naruto retorted, his arms still crossed, but he soon broke down into a smile. "Well... I really hope that we're on the same team too."

"... Yeah." She couldn't help the flush creeping up on her cheeks, this time. The honesty in his words usually did that to her. She knew that he only said that because he valued their friendship, but she liked to interpret it in another way, in her mind. _Sue me. I'm a girl in love._

"Hmm... Then, want to bet about the third member?" Leave it to him to bring her mind back to another amusing activity so that she wouldn't feel bad about letting go that fuzzy feeling in her chest.

"Well... It's going to be difficult. I mean, we're not that good that they would need to balance us with Shikamaru..." She pointed at the snoring boy a few seats over. "So we should at least get someone competent... But who, exactly?"

"Hmm... Hoping you would guess, actually." Naruto shrugged and crossed his arms behind his head. "You know that I haven't really made an effort to socialize in these years. Hoped you could fix that..."

"Who do I look like? An Uchiha?" She joked, amused that he would expect her to remember faces, names and skills of everyone from their graduating class. "I'm a Taijutsu specialist, I don't have a photographic memory."

"Alright, alright... Then, let's try and go with it by a skills' viewpoint. You're a taijutsu specialist and as such you fight at close range. I can use my sword, but I'm not really a swordsman, as you know. Also, with all my chakra, be sure that any teacher will try and teach me a bunch of chakra-draining techniques as soon as possible. So, ninjutsu and close to mid-range. Mostly mid." He was scratching the top of his head. "So..."

"So, we should need someone who mostly focuses on genjutsu and long range and that sucks on everything else to have a balanced team..." She tried to go through the other graduates to find someone fitting, and came out with nothing. "Nope. No one rings a bell."

"Geez... Well, we'll just wait." Naruto decided to let the matter go and focus on the present. They would meet him sooner or later. "So... Did you hear about Mizuki-sensei?"

"Oh, yeah. Trying to steal a scroll from the Hokage's office? What an idiot..."

-Breakline-

"I must say it is an unusual request, but one I was expecting nonetheless." The third Hokage commented as he signed the presented paper, giving his approval at the described request and handing it to the waiting kunoichi. "Never heard of any ninjas who's made a career in Anbu to trade in a promotion to captain for a teaching assignment."

"I just found out that I really like teaching, Hokage-sama." The purple haired kunoichi smiled as she stuffed the now signed paper in the front pocket of her Jounin jacket. It had been a while since he had wore her forehead protector, and she found out that she rather missed the feeling. "Helping Ami has helped me too, in the process. Ah, here's my latest report on the matter."

She handed the Hokage another scroll, which the shadow would later turn in to the Anbu headquarters. "I guess that you made a deal with the Anbu Headquarters to keep on being the one to monitor Ami's growth even if you aren't official a member any more?"

"Yes. And I guess you understand how it would really help if..."

"I figured as much. Of course, you will be teaching your sister." She also found out that she had been smiling a lot more ever since Ami had started talking to her again. Even more when she moved in with her. Her little sister made no mystery that the cause of everything was... "And much to your sister's delight, Naruto-kun has been placed on your team as well."

"I didn't dare to hope this much, Hokage-sama." Yugao admitted with a smile, bowing gently. Now, though, it was time to be professional. "I suppose that the third member will be someone focusing on Genjutsu... But I don't think we have any in this year's graduating class."

"Hmm... Too true." The Hokage admitted. It was time to be professional for him as well. Yugao had gotten her transfer and the two students she wanted, now she would have to take one Konoha needed her to take. "Naruto and Ami's companion is not a member of their graduating class."

"Oh." That was her only reaction. She knew that the Hokage would soon fill her in on the details. His movements as he took out a folder from his front drawer were indicative. She caught the brown paper-bag and opened it, picking out a stack of papers. They were informations on Naruto, Ami, and their third member. "She's unknown to me, Hokage-sama."

"I know. She's the member of an allied Konoha clan, but for particular reasons, which are all detailed in the folder, she couldn't join a normal academic training plan. She was assigned a private tutor." Yugao separated the papers in the three pre-made stacks and reached the part regarding her team's third member. "That failed quickly, mostly because her teacher was a novice and she didn't feel up to the task."

"... This request..." What she was reading was surprising her, beginning with the decision of the girl's latest teacher.

"I've learned a lesson, in these last years. Isolation, ignorance intended as protection... In the long run, it can't do anything but harm someone." The Hokage commented, remembering a certain day of the last year, when he had been confronted by a boy with blue eyes. "I don't want to sign that particular request that is resting in your hand right now, Yugao. I will be forced to, though, if you don't accept her as a student or if along the way, something goes wrong."

"I... Understand." She did the more she read about the girl. There was a high probability, seeing her clan's history.

"So, I ask you this, Yugao. Do you feel up to the task? What I'm asking of you, here, is to take under your wing Konoha's resident Jinchuuriki, your own sister which happens to be into a special training project of the Anbu and this young girl whose future now virtually rests into your hands." Way to drop something on her, Yugao thought. Not that she would ever admit it. "The reason I'm asking you this, though, is because I believe you can help her like you helped your sister. Unlike the girl's previous teacher, you actually do have experience in teaching... Even if it's unofficial."

"... I thank you for your trust, Hokage-sama." She went through the file, various hypothesis and plans going through her mind at the same time. One immediately started shouting louder than the others. "I accept, but... I have to ask for a condition." That surprised the Hokage. "I can't see this working any other way, otherwise."

"Hmm... Speak your mind." That intrigued him. Seemed like the one with surprises in them wasn't just the youngest generation.

-Breakline-

"Alright, class. Settle down." Many members of the graduating class had broke out into conversation, but everything died down as Iruka finally entered the classrom, a bunch of papers in his hands.

He had been quite late in coming to the classroom because the list with the team divisions had been handed out quite late. The thing had to be approved by the Hokage himself, after all, and he guessed that there was something that he had to change. "Alright. As some of you may know, after graduation new graduates are put into three-men cells under the guide of a Jounin sensei. I'm now going to announce the teams. Team 1!"

Naruto and Ami crossed their fingers together as they focused their ears, hoping their names to come out together in the same team. Though, they had quite different reactions to the time that passed as they shut their eyes in silent prayer. Ami found it unnerving. She preferred for it to be over with as soon as possible. Naruto instead found it reassuring. More people out of the way meant more chances for them to be in the same team.

"Team 7. Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, Gunma Ayato." That broke both of their concentration, though, Naruto included. Even if he wasn't that proactive in getting to know his other classmates during the academy, he could remember the top rookie of the year. Also, he was Itachi's brother.

"They put him up with one of his most rabid fangirls and that pervert? Poor guy..." Ami joked, laughing mischievously right after. Naruto thought, was mostly focused on his attitude and his eyes. He hadn't even batted an eyelash as he was called out, if not when Sakura squealed in joy and Ino cursed loudly, in annoyance. He hadn't changed, he could see it. The cold hate, that only he and a few other people knew towards whom it was really directed.

_Itachi-nii... He isn't like you. Not at all._ Naruto sighed and returned his attention to Iruka.

"Team 8. Hyuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba." Nope. They didn't ring a bell. Ami was starting to grit her teeth in annoyance.

_Come on! Just call our names, for f..._

"Team 9. Uzumaki Naruto." Their heads shot up like guard dogs. "Uzuki Ami."

"YES!" They whispered loudly, and Ami wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck and hugged him tight, earning a blush out of him. If it was for embarrassment or lack of air, that was unknown.

"Huh... This is strange." That comment from Iruka made them stop their affectionate tirades. "You are to meet your third member along with your Jounin teacher. Continuing, Team 10. Nara..."

"Later on? What the hell?" Naruto whispered to Ami, who just shrugged her shoulders and then began looking around.

"Maybe... Our team-mate isn't anyone of the people in this room?" Ami commented, earning a thoughtful noise from her new-found team-mate.

"Well... It's not like it changes much for me. Though, I wonder about just who the hell..."

-Breakline-

"Well, that's that. Your prospective students are all expecting you in the classroom... Well, almost everyone." Saying this, the Hokage sent a knowing glance in Yugao's direction, who just received it without reacting. "So... You're all dismissed."

The Jounin in the room started quickly filing out of the room, Yugao being one of the first ones. Right after, she started walking through the corridors of the Hokage tower, climbing two floors on stairs on the way, before stopping in front of another door. She noticed the two Anbu guarding the door, invisible to anyone but an experienced Jounin. She ignored them and knocked.

There was no reply coming from the inside, but she could hear a faint shuffling of feet. She waited a few more seconds before opening the door. "Kurama Yakumo?"

"Y-Yes." Standing right in front of the door, in the middle of the room, was a nervous copper haired girl with really pale skin and golden eyes, hair parted and held in place by two bells and now, a forehead protector. Her attire was peculiar. A violet jumper with one long sleeve that came to rest over her right hand and one short sleeve, worn over layers of clothing of less warm material as showed by the large neck-line and the lower edge which barely arrived under her waist. It uncovered one long dress-like garment that acted as a skirt, worn over something dark green worn over something white, over red mesh-web shinobi garments, which showed on her left arm and on her tights. The sandals were standard attire, and she wore both weapon pouches on the back of her belt, along with another bigger pocket on her left side.

"I'm Uzuki Yugao. I will be your Jounin teacher starting today." The girl's nervousness disappeared like snow under the sun, replaced by what she could only interpret as relief and happiness. "I'm here to bring you to the academy. There we will meet your team-mates."

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" The girl let out, embarrassed but still happy. She was amused at her calling her ma'am, and then she realized how she had been talking to her. She rolled her eyes and hit her own head with a punch, causing confusion to the younger girl.

"Sorry. I was in Anbu before this. Old habits die hard. Let me try again." She chuckled, amused at herself. "My name's Uzuki Yugao, your sensei. Nice to meet you. Now, want to go meet your team-mates?" She finished with a smile and by pointing at the door right behind her with her right thumb. Yakumo in return smiled as well. "I guess that was better."

"Yes, it was. I felt a little strange calling you ma'am... Ah." Suddenly, she saw the girl's eyes widen and her whole body tense again. Then she lowered her gaze and held both hands up in front of her mouth, in a clearly defensive posture.

"I take you're Uzuki Yugao." She slowly turned around, not feeling any killing intent or chakra being summoned, but still being on her guard. The moment she had identified the stranger as a woman and seeing Yakumo's distress, she was pretty sure she had guessed her identity correctly.

"Yuuhi Kurenai." She stated more than greeted, since she already had also guessed the reason why she was here, and she would have none of that. She disappeared in a cloud of smoke, reappeared behind Yakumo and then used a second shunshin to reappear out of the door with the startled young girl, before putting a hand on the small of her back and slowly starting to push her forward. Yakumo recovered rapidly and understood. "It's been fun. We should do this again."

"Please, wait." Kurenai just turned around and stepped back into the corridor. "I just want to..."

"Try and dissuade me from taking this girl on as a student and go with your proposal of sealing her chakra." She felt Yakumo tense against her hand as she said that. "Sorry, no can do. I've already done the paperwork. You know how bureaucrats can be..."

"You can still take that signature back." That made Yugao stop, and she felt Yakumo tense even more under her palm.

"And why would I do that?" The ex-Anbu said turning around, staring down the novice Jounin teacher. That little comment seemed to make Yakumo relax.

"You've read her file. You know how dangerous she can be." Kurenai continued, and the hint of relaxation disappeared. "It's better for everyone, including herself, if she just chooses another way in life."

"Because she can be dangerous? That's all the reason you have?" Yugao commented, amusement not showing in her voice, particularly because of how Yakumo back had taken a peculiar shivering habit in the last few seconds. "I've been an Anbu longer that you've been a Chunin, Kurenai. Do you really think danger scares me?"

"It's not the same thing. She..."

"She's my student now. That's final. If anything comes up, I will deal with it, but I won't just abandon her and let her chakra be sealed just because you're afraid I will prove that you just weren't cut for the teacher's job." That seemed to strike a nerve in Kurenai, if her narrowed face was any indication. Concerning Yugao, that conversation was over. "I'm afraid you'll have to cover your screw-up some other way, maybe doing a better job with your team. Though, I'm afraid of how they'll come out if you failed to teach just one girl. Come on, Yakumo."

"... Yes." She wasn't stuttering. The fact that she had taken her defences had made her more relaxed, and that was a big step in earning her trust. Kurenai's silence, instead, was her little personal victory.

-Breakline-

"Hmm... Our teacher's late."

"So is ours." After Iruka was done with the divisions into teams, the students had been left to wait for their respective teachers. Most of them had arrived a few minutes after Iruka left. Team 8's teacher took ten minutes more. All that was left was Naruto, Ami, and the members of team 7.

"Man... I hope ours is at least a hot chick." Sakura winced and cringed in disgust at Ayato's lecherous smile as he spoke those words. Naruto rolled his eyes. He may have not made any efforts to memorize, but even he was doomed to remember the class's local pervert. The black haired boy had picked up nasty habits ever since he was eight or so. Flipping up skirts, peeking in the girls' locker room, wetting them when they wore white clothes. That was one of the main reasons why he had very low grades.

"You're disgusting." The pink haired girl commented, and Ayato just grinned at her.

"And I'm also your new team-mate! Rejoice!" She just scoffed and turned around, while Sasuke rolled his eyes. That was the biggest reaction he had seen coming from the boy the whole morning. "Of course, I hope she has loooong hair! That's how you like them, right, Sasuke?"

"... Maybe." Naruto was shocked. That was one of the most open reactions he had seen coming from Sasuke ever since... Even if it was for annoyance, it was a reaction. That was when the door opened.

"OOOOOH! SASUKE! LONG HAIR, SASUKE!" That caused everyone to turn around, and Naruto and Ami's jaws to go slack.

"O-Onee-chan?" Ami exclaimed, surprised by the appearance of her older sister. The blonde was similarly surprised, but his attention was more on the girl half hidden behind her.

"TWO LONG HAIR!" Ayato walked up to Sasuke and threw an arm around his neck, much to the Uchiha's displeasure. "Look, Sasuke! Two hot chicks with long hair! Well, the young one is a bit on the anaemic side, but..."

"Team 9, you're with me." Yugao said, letting down Ayato's hopes, leaving him deluded and pouting and Ami and Naruto really surprised. They stepped down from their seats and walked to the door, following Yugao and the unknown girl outside of the classroom, now containing just the members of team 7.

"... Where the hell is our sensei?" Sasuke muttered.

-Breakline-

"Onee-chan, you're our Jounin sensei? But weren't you supposed to be promoted to captain, this week?"

"Hehehe... Let's say I made a trade."

"Are you crazy?" Even if she called her crazy, Ami couldn't be happier, in that moment. She was on the same team as Naruto and her older sister was her Jounin teacher. Everything was just fine.

Naruto observed the exchange and chuckled. He had been probably even more surprised than Ami when he saw Yugao, of all people, appear in the door-way dressed as a regular Jounin. It was a nice graduation present, Yugao being one of the few people he liked in the village, and the total number could be counted on one hand. He bet that the old man had had something to do with it.

_Though... Who is she?_ That she wasn't a normal graduate was evident. She seemed to be about his same age, but similarities ended there. She had never seen her in class nor anywhere else in Konoha, before. Was she even a citizen?

She was walking to his side, a couple meters behind the two sisters, her gaze held low. She seemed quite nervous. She had been ever since she had laid eyes on them when they still were into the classroom. She could also probably feel his gaze on her. Now, there was the one million ryo question for him. How should he act?

As always, he didn't feel like he really needed any more friends. He was content with what he had, but there was the fact that he would probably spend lots of time around her now that they were a team. Bee-nii had sent him lots of letters and he said that he always had lots of fun with his team-mates once he got to know them.

_I'm not starved for attention any more, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be friends with all your team-mates._ "So... What's your name?" He suddenly said, making the girl jump in her skin and turn to him, a bit startled. He held his hands up apologetically. "Ehm, sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"Ah! N-No, I'm sorry. It's just..." Yakumo turned to the front again, shaking her head from side to side. "It's my fault. I've been a nervous wreck in the last few days."

"Ah. I'm sorry to hear that..." He returned his arms to a normal position. At least she wasn't introverted or downright strange like that strange girl with white eyes in his graduating class. Always sneaking around, hiding. He caught her staring at him, once. Talk about weird. He turned to her again and flashed her a 600 Megawatt grin, his speciality. "Well, let's start again. I'm Uzumaki Naruto!"

"I'm... Kurama Yakumo." The girl replied, smiling to him, even if he could still read her nervousness. He replaced the grin with a smile.

"Yakumo-chan, then. So, I was wondering..."

"You'll have time to ask questions later, Naruto." Yugao's voice interrupted his question before it could even be attempted. It seemed that they had reached their destination, alias the school-yard. Ami had already taken a seat on nearby swing. "Right now, I think a bit of general introductions are in order."

"General introductions, nee-san?" Naruto repeated, taking his seat on another of the swings, the third one being taken by Yakumo. "Like what?"

"I guess something simple. Names, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies... And your best skills." Yugao decided to stay standing right in front of them. "And before you ask, no, I'm not going to go first. To know secrets about me you'll have to make yourself worthy." Ami and Naruto just sent amused stares her way.

"Nee-san... I slept periodically at your home since I was eight. I don't think I have that much left to discover about you." That comment caused Yugao to blush and the two partners in crime to laugh out loud, while Yakumo was just confused.

"You... Know each other already?" Ami nodded.

"Yes. She's my older sister, and Naruto has been my friend since the first year of the academy." Yakumo just let out a 'Oh' of surprise, suddenly feeling out of place.

"Alright, you pests. While you recover, I suggest we let Yakumo start. Before you ask, she was in a particular training program. That's why you never saw her at the academy." She turned to the copper-haired girl who suddenly felt, rightfully, the center of attention.

"Alright. My name... Is Kurama Yakumo, of the Kurama clan."

_Never heard of it._ Naruto thought, leaning his head on top of one of his open palms.

"I like paintings, drawings, sculptures.. Well, anything related to art, really." She chuckled a bit, realizing that indeed, most of what she liked was related to some kind of artistic activity. "What I dislike is heavy physical activity. I've always been kind of weak, so... My dream..." That was when Naruto noticed a change in her posture and most of all in her eyes. Her gaze didn't waver around any more. She still kept her gaze low, but it was because she seemed to be staring at something that only she could see. "My dream is to become a strong ninja even if I can only use Genjutsu, and bring back my clan to its past glory."

Both Naruto and Ami blinked in confusion at that. They could see that she was serious about everything she said in that sentence, and while Naruto liked the part about becoming a strong ninja, he had to wonder about the 'only Genjutsu' part. "My hobbies... Hmm, I guess the things I like are pretty much my hobbies."

"Thanks, Yakumo. Now, my little sister." Yugao turned to Ami, her eyes frowning playfully. "Say something bad about me and it's ten laps around Konoha."

"Alright, alright..." Ami rolled her eyes, before clearing her throat. "My name is Uzuki Ami, younger sister to our precious sensei, here. I like martial arts, orange juice..."

"And stuffed animals. Ow!" Naruto grinned even as he took the swat to the back of the head and the glare. "What? It's true!"

"Moving on, what I dislike are stupid blabbermouths, spiders and bullies." Ami continued, a blush now on her face. "My dreams are to become a strong ninja like my sister, bring back martial arts in the world and... Well, have a family, one day." Saying that last part, she lowered and turned her head, grabbing her right arm with her left. "You know, a husband... Two kids... A-Anyway, hobbies? I like practising Martial Arts."

"Martial Arts... Don't you mean Taijutsu?" Yakumo asked, only for Ami to shake her head from side to side, in negation.

"No. Martial Arts and Taijutsu are two different things." It was Yakumo's turn to be confused, while Yugao turned to Naruto.

"And finally, we have the only blonde male of this year's graduating class." Naruto smiled and started swinging back and forth as he talked.

"Well, I've already introduced myself to Yakumo-chan, so... I like swords, movies, and plants. What I dislike is rust, people who can't think with their own heads, and those who think they're above others just because. My dream..." He took a huge swing by moving his body mid-swing to jump and land a few meters forward, before turning around and flash a victory sign to the trio of girls. "Is to become the strongest ninja who has ever lived!"

"... Eh?" To say that Yakumo was surprised was an understatement, while Ami just laughed. There he went again.

"Yup! Stronger than the Sandaime! Stronger than the Yondaime! Stronger than the Sannin! Stronger than Salamander Hanzou! Stronger... Well, you get the drift." Naruto grinned as he realized he had been started narrating his 'to beat' list again. "My hobbies are watching movies and gardening."

"Now, this is a team. We're gonna have the strongest Genjutsu user, the strongest Martial Artist and by consequence taijutsu-master, and the strongest ninja in history all in one team, someday." Yugao joked, ruffling Naruto's hair once he had finished, much to his embarrassment. "Alright. Now... It's time to be serious."

"Finally. So, we're gonna start having missions right now?" Naruto asked, earning a shake of Yugao's head as an answer.

"No. To tell the truth, right now, in normal cases, you wouldn't be a team yet." That earned her everyone's attention as she let go of Naruto's head so that he could turn around to stare at her as well. "Technically, you're not real ninjas yet. Right now I should be telling you that you have to undergo another test. Either you pass or you go back to the academy."

"WHAT?" While Ami and Naruto were downright outraged, Yakumo was terrorized. If she couldn't become a ninja right now, there would be no academy for her to go back to. There would only be...

"But, you're a special case. Also, I find that test kind of stupid." Yakumo bit back a curse, very unlike her. That was third useless heart-attack, that morning. "The point of the test would be to see if you can work as team, but you can't expect twelve years old with all the experience of wombats in ninja-work that may also not have bonded during the academy to suddenly start working together for the sake of efficiency. That's wishful thinking at best and downright idiocy at worst."

"So, we don't have to do that test?" Ami commented, and then frowned. "Wait a minute... There's a catch, isn't there?"

"Ever so perceptive, little sister. Yes, there's a 'catch'. I believe in building team-work, not finding it. So, in exchange of becoming a real three-men cell without making that test, well..." Yugao smiled mischievously. "The four of us will start living together for an year starting from today."

"Huh?"

"That's all?"

"W-What?" As expected, Yakumo was the one to react more strongly, outraged voice, standing and a blush on her face.

"We've already arranged everything. Your things are currently being delivered at my home, right now. It's the biggest one among the bunch of available places." Yakumo tried to stammer some kind of retort, while Naruto and Ami smiled to each other, trying to thing of ways to prank her, most likely. Inwardly, she grinned like a Cheshire cat. They probably thought it would be nothing because they had a few sleep-overs when they were children, but teen-agers living together and seeing each other all day long? Oh, she would enjoy this.

-Breakline-

September symbolizes the first hints of autumn but depending on the country, the change isn't so drastic. In a hot desert, the coming of autumn means a slightly decrease in morning temperature and an increase in the cold of the night. A desert is a harsh place to live in, and people learn to live with and harness what scarce natural resources can be found.

"... I finally graduate and I get put on the same team as my siblings who have already graduated years earlier?" On that point, Gaara 'of the desert' had really hit the jackpot. To him, everything in that habitat was a natural resource. In the desert, he was the strongest, the most feared. "Really?"

"All the other graduating students had... Issues with being placed on your same team, Gaara." Even if it wasn't that he had gotten used to it, he could have smelt his father's lies anyway. Facts helped. Yes, most people were still intimidated by his mere presence, and the make up around his eyes wasn't helping, but he hadn't had an 'incident' in years. He had even gotten somewhat friendly with some of his classmates, so it all boiled down to his father wanting to keep him under control. Unlike him, his sister and brother were still somewhat loyal to their father. "Do not worry about technicalities. I am the Kazekage, after all."

"How could I forget?" He narrowed his eyes and stood up from his chair. He guessed he could live with the arrangement. "Fine. I'll guess I'll go meet my other team-mates. Have a good day."

The fourth Kazekage silently observed as Gaara walked to the door and then out of his office, closing the door gently behind him using his sand which then shifted outside by passing under the door. He narrowed his eyes at the door. The last years had been full of developments regarding Gaara's situation, but most of them, he didn't like.

He liked that he had found some sort of stability, to the point that his sleep wasn't that much disturbed by the beast any more – he knew for a fact that the circles were make up to cover the much lighter ones under them – but he also had reached a point where he was sure that he would never use them for his sake.

He had discovered that it had been him sending assassins after him from the incident with Yashamaru, and all the people sent after him had not only been defeated, but left alive, with the risk of his 'plans' being discovered. Good thing most of his men had received the order to suicide in case of failed missions, but a couple had to be taken care of by another of his men, with the result that no one had accepted that particular mission in the last couple of years.

Gaara was really becoming a nuisance. He couldn't control him, he couldn't aim him, and he was pretty sure that sooner or later he would come and challenge him. Try to take some revenge on his own father. "... What... AH!" That was when the leg of his chair gave out. There also was that new habit of playing pranks on him that was really getting on his nerves.

-Breakline-

"... And so, I will be your new Jounin teacher." A few minutes later, he found himself on a roof of the village being introduced to who he recognized as one of his father's most loyal subjects. Baki. This only confirmed his theory, and he groaned. Kankuro and Temari seemed a bit annoyed themselves, the male about to get lucky with his female team-mate before he got transferred. "Are there any questions?"

"... Just one, actually." They all turned to Gaara and Baki tensed as the redhead removed the corkscrew from the jar he carried on his back, the hole starting to enlarge and sand to flow out of it. "Anyone hungry?"

"... Huh?" Temari rolled her eyes as Gaara's sand dropped into each one's lap, in Baki's case in his hands, a plastic-wrapped bento box. The Jounin teacher observed the object in his hands with curiosity.

"... Omu-Rice?"

"I planned to make a good impression on people I didn't know or relate to before today, but since the arrangement it's been this... Well, it would be a waste to not eat it. Oh, right!" The sand suddenly flung objects in everyone's direction, all his three team-mates catching them easily out of thin air. Chopsticks. "Almost forgot."

"... It's cold." Baki observed as he slowly unwrapped his own box. "How did you..."

"Sand can be used for a lot of things... If you know some basic physics and thermodynamics." Gaara replied with a chuckle while unwrapping his own box. "Well, come on. It's not going to get eaten on his own."

"Itadakimasu!" Kankuro didn't need any further encouragement as he dug in with feverish glee. "Hmm! Delicious as always, little brother! Temari, you could get a lesson or two, you know!"

"You... Like to cook?" Baki asked while the sister threw a shuriken at the older brother's head.

"Yeah. It's fun and it's a good exercise for multi-tasking." Gaara answered before taking another bit of rice, bell peppers and chicken wrapped into omelette. He chewed slowly and swallowed right after, savouring the taste. The best part about cooking was that you got to eat right after. He then smirked. "Also, someone has to do it. Temari burns water." The sand stopped five shuriken being aimed at his midsection. "Seriously. She should take a shot at Anbu Demolition."

"... Surprising."

"Yeah, I bet you mostly took me as one who enjoyed sautéing human meat in medium-heat blood." Gaara commented, surprising Baki yet again, but he understood it was irony from the smirk on the redhead's lips. "Don't worry, I would never do that. Blood tastes terribly."

-Breakline-

"So... They decided to make you graduate one year early, after all."

"Any doubt?" He answered his older friend as he tried to decide just which plant to bring with him that day. He settled for the one with the black body, green flower and yellow stamens. "He's impatient."

"I guess he was kinda irked that you were the last Jinchuuriki who still had to graduate." Utakata commented as he put on the azure Kimono which had been his normal attire ever since he became a full fledged ninja, his body steaming from the shower. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yes." Yagura replied naturally as he did a single handseal and water started flowing out of his mouth and into the pot where the chosen flower was resting. "Not a problem... Maybe it's better this way."

"... Naruto and Gaara should be graduating this year as well, right?" Utakata smiled. His younger friend didn't reply, but he just knew there was a smile on his face at that moment.

"... Probably." Indeed, he was smiling, and thinking of fond memories didn't stop him from focusing on the task at hand. With another handseal, his gaze fixed on the 'watered' flower as it started to grow and bulge under his eyes. In the end, what looked like a staff long almost as much as his whole body had grown out of the pot. He gently took it in his hands and pulled it free. "Want to train a bit?"

"Why not. Just remember to bring some antidote with you." Having to focus your chakra to destroy poison was tiring. He strapped his pipe into his belt and started to walk out of the room as Yagura strapped the 'flower-staff' to his back and followed suit. "I think the third training field should be free at this moment."

"No, it's occupied. Number four is, though." The two stopped as they found a young woman with long auburn hair in their way. Utakata smiled and bowed to the Jounin.

"Terumi-san. A good morning to you." The Kirigakure kunoichi smiled back and gave the duo a nod with her head. "Thanks for your patronage."

"Always a pleasure." She then moved her gaze to Yagura, who gave her a little nod of acknowledgement. He never knew how to act around the woman, mostly because she had been the only adult apart Roshi and Han to treat him in a normal way, and the only adult woman. "So, I hear Yagura was made to graduate early. I guess congratulations are in order."

"Thanks." The younger Jinchuuriki answered.

"Well, although we know that the main reason for that weren't his academic results, high as they may have been." Utakata let out, and Mei nodded.

"I know... But I'm confident Yagura will be able to deal with this no problem. He's strongest than most of the graduating genin I've seen and then some." She chuckled and then stepped aside. "But, I'm keeping from your training. Please, go."

"It's always a pleasure." The two Jinchuuriki bowed in acknowledgement and then started walking towards the complex's exit, the older one throwing a last glance in Mei's direction as she walked away as well. "She's really nice. Always has been."

"Hmm. A good candidate." He was obviously referring to the next Mizukage. The current one had been losing his shine, starting with the defection or loss of all of the Seven Swordsmen of the mist to his mostly citizen unhappiness policy. All hidden villages were technically militaristic dictatorships, but Kirikagure seemed to really emphasize on the point. "You've got a crush."

"Eh? N-No, don't speak nonsense!" Yagura allowed himself a small smirk. It was just too fun to be a ten years old in full control of his mind while your older sibling figure was going through teen-hood.

-Breakline-

"Hmm... All my back problems, and I had to get out of retirement." The third Tsuchikage grumbled as he put away his hat, the meeting with his top Jounin finally over. That was one thing he hadn't really missed. "Damn that woman and her over-the-top plans."

His successor had really jumped the gun with some of her 'initiatives'. Some had only been dangerously irking for the other countries if word ever got outside the village of it and that was somewhat acceptable, but some really bordered on treason because of the risks involved. She had been gently invited to step down and since there weren't any other ninjas strong enough who also happened to have a head worth a damn screwed on their shoulders, he had to take the old job back.

"If I didn't have his guts, I could now sympathize with Sarutobi." He voiced out loud, massaging his lower back as he approached the chair.

"My, why do you say that? It's not like Sarutobi lost that much height in his old age." His forehead twitched. There was maybe the only other ninja from his village who could have take the seat besides him but who happened to not give a rat's ass about it but loved to get on his nerves.

"Roshi. You just worsened an already terrific morning." Onoki commented while Roshi chuckled and took a seat in the chair in front of the Tsuchikage's desk.

"Ah, come on, don't be like that. Cigar?" He offered the shorter man one of his 'cigars', which really were more like pieces of bark. Onoki wondered what kind of tree he took them off. He shook his head.

"While it may be a good way to let out stress, adding smoking to my lower back pains would be nothing short of detrimental." The short man replied, and increased the concentration of his frown. "What do you want, Roshi? I doubt this is just a pleasure visit."

"Well... To tell the truth..." Roshi puffed out some more smoke before continuing. "I was thinking of taking up a teaching job."

His back would probably want to murder him, but there was no way he could be able to stay in his seat at hearing those words. He connected with the ground, hard, and was back on his feet in a few seconds ignoring his back. "WILL YOU STOP WITH THE JOKES, DAMN IT!"

"I'm not joking." Roshi replied stoically. "If not me, then at least Han. Maybe he would be a better choice?"

"... God, you seriously want to teach?" Onoki really didn't understand what went through the younger old man's mind. Roshi and Han had left active service decades before for personal reasons. Not wanting a civil war against a two-men army, they had been happy to let them act as a simple deterrent. Now, he said he wanted a teaching job. "What brought this on?"

"The next Chunin exams, actually. They're going to be held in Konoha, right?" The Tsuchikage nodded. Roshi chuckled. "I thought that it was time to show them that Iwa has learned his lesson from the last war. What better way than to send an elite team with an elite teacher to compete? Or two?"

"... There's something in Konoha that interests you, isn't there?" Onoki wasn't stupid. He wouldn't be the Tsuchikage, otherwise. Onoki wanted to train a team as an excuse to travel to Konoha. It was tradition for the Jounins to accompany their students. "You and your schemes..."

"Nothing bad, I assure you." Roshi chuckled as he burned quickly through his cigar. "So, what do you say?"

"... Returning our two Jinchuuriki to active duty and making them train teams? The village would have my head if I said no, even if I know in the end you're doing it because there's something you want." Onoki sighed and wrote something on a piece of paper. "Go to this office. They'll give you all the paperwork you'll need."

"Why, thanks, Tsuchikage-sama." Onoki's forehead twitched.

"Alright. Drop the act and disappear before I change my mind." Roshi enjoyed the small man's enraged face for a few more seconds before disappearing along with the papers in a burst of flames. "... I really have to proof these walls against shunshin."

-Breakline-

"Hmm..." Yuugao stretched and yawned slowly, gracefully as she woke up, swinging her legs off the bed as she welcomed the new day, her eyes falling gracefully on the calendar by her bedside table. It was Sunday. No missions that day. That meant extra training time for their little group turned family.

"NARUTO, JUST HOW MUCH TIME ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE IN THE BATHROOM?" She rolled her eyes. Family indeed. At least Naruto and Ami acted like such, even if it seemed that at least in bathroom dynamics the roles had been inverted. Naruto always woke up before them because he was the one who always took the longest to take a shower and always did it first thing in the morning. And he was the one with the shortest hair in the household.

That morning was no different. Ami woke up to find Naruto locked up inside taking a shower and was beating down on the door and shouting at him to hurry up while downstairs, Yakumo was already preparing breakfast. All in all, though, they were much more comfortable with each other than anyone thought.

She had miscalculated when she thought that this would be difficult for them to act as a family. First, she had underestimated the bond between Naruto and Ami. Those two fought over things like showers and the last onigiri, but overall they were pretty comfortable in each other's presence, no matter the situation.

Yakumo had taken a few more days to open up, but like the others, she didn't reject the idea of living as a family. Instead, she seemed to cherish it, and that seemed strange to the ex-ANBU. Yakumo unlike Naruto and Ami had a clan, and two loving parents. Of that she was sure. _Maybe..._ "Good morning, Yakumo."

"Ah. Morning, Yuugao-sensei." The long haired genjutsu specialist answered, giving the older woman a brief look over her shoulders, not daring to take her attention off the task of preparing breakfast. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks..." After moving in, Yakumo had taken upon her the task of preparing most of the meals. She could tell she wasn't that experienced even if she had maybe some talent for it. _Well... Cuisine is a 'creative' art too... Maybe she has talents in art in general?_ Yakumo probably liked their situation because she could do something. She could be useful.

That's always been the point with Yakumo, proving to others and to herself that she could be useful, that she could do the things other people did without that much trouble. She guessed that even back home everything was done by the other clan members. This time, since people didn't know about her physical weakness that most of times was exaggerated on, she had the freedom to choose which tasks to take upon. She wasn't stupid. She knew her own limits, what she could and she couldn't do. She was wise.

In the end, after one month weeks after their graduation, everything had started to work like clockwork, mostly thanks to Naruto and Ami who had decided to put all the effort they could in making the Kurama heir feel at ease around them. She was thankful that Naruto had decided to make a new friend. It was a rarity. They were ready. "I swear to god, onee-chan doesn't take that long! And look at how long is her hair!"

"Hey! I have lots of them and they get easily grimy!" Naruto retorted, before grinning as he sat down at the table. "Also, I couldn't wait to try that new shampoo."

"Shampoo. Of all the things to receive from friends in distant countries, shampoo." Ami commented and then sighed. Usual Naruto. "Well, at least you don't have to use it again till it's time to leave."

"Hmm... Breakfast's ready." Yakumo announced as she set the various dishes on the table, rice and miso soup first.

"Tamagoyaki!" Naruto exclaimed before diving for one of said rolled omelettes. "With radish on the side! Damn, Yakumo-chan! How did I have breakfast without you, all these years?"

"In a bad way." Ami commented as she thanked the now blushing Yakumo as well, accepting her own serving of tamagoyaki. "I lost count of the times you got a stomach-ache because you didn't bother checking the milk's expiring date."

"Hey! I learned to do that!"

"When you were ten." Yuugao commented, and the girls shared a chuckle at his expenses. "Well, eat up. Today I'm gonna push you harder than usual. Individual training in the morning, all out team training in the afternoon. Free evening. I suggest you rest."

"How come, onee-chan?" Ami asked, curious about her sister's choice of words.

"Tomorrow we're getting our first C-Rank mission." The three genin stopped what they were doing all together and turned to stare at her. She smiled. "I think you're ready."

"Yes! That means that we finally get to fight someone!" Naruto was the most enthusiast, as she predicted. He had been waiting for an opportunity to test his ability against an opponent that was okay to hurt.

"There's just going to be bandits at most, idiot." Ami declared, rolling her eyes. "Hardly someone you can go all out on." Even while saying that, Yuugao could tell that her little sister was, while more level-headed than Naruto, excited as well at the idea of putting to use her skills in a real-life situation.

"... I see." And again predictable, the most nervous was Yakumo. Not out of concern for her own safety, but she was mostly afraid of screwing up.

"Do not worry. I'm confident that you're strong enough to do this. Also, I'm sure you can cover each other's backs." Yuugao continued, taking her own servings for breakfast from the tray Yakumo was still holding in her stiff hands. "And if push comes to shove... I was offered an Anbu captain position, you know."

"Heh. Don't worry, nee-chan. Your turn will never come." Naruto commented with a huge grin. Finally. A month of D-Ranks was more than enough in his book. It was finally time to be kickass.

-Breakline-

"Seriously? The three of us?" She commented as she arrived in the clearing where she had been told her team would gather, and she couldn't help but think that it was kind of overkill. "All this raw power for a simple C-Rank? Isn't it too much?"

"Let's just say bro wants the mission to be carried out pro!" The answer came, as she guessed, in rap. She rolled her eyes.

"What Bee means is that Raikage-sama wants to be sure that the mission is carried out successfully, since it's important not only for the client but for the village too." The oldest of the trio, a black-skinned man with long white hair that covered one of his eyes explained to the long haired blonde woman. "I'll fill you in on the details as we depart."

"Still... Two Jinchuuriki and the inheritor of the third Raikage's Black Lightning?" Yugito commented, narrowing her eyes at the superior officer. "Just how many unknown variables are there for this mission?"

_To be continued..._

_In the next chapter..._

It seems that no matter the Alternate Universe, Author or Story, Naruto's first C-Mission must always become something worse than it appears at first, and who am I to go against that rule? Follow Naruto and his team as they undertake their mission and as Naruto desired, get into action sooner rather than later! Stay tuned!


End file.
